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2022 Glasgow Tournament

Falcons open season with tournament upset over Slater

Senior Melo Hockaday clinches win from the line, Chase Allen-Jackman has seventh career double-double

Justin Addison, Editor/Publisher
Posted 11/30/22

The Fayette boys, seeded sixth in this week’s Glasgow Tournament, upset third-seeded Slater 57-55 with a dramatic finish Tuesday night in the opening round. It was Fayette’s first game of …

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2022 Glasgow Tournament

Falcons open season with tournament upset over Slater

Senior Melo Hockaday clinches win from the line, Chase Allen-Jackman has seventh career double-double

Posted

The Fayette boys, seeded sixth in this week’s Glasgow Tournament, upset third-seeded Slater 57-55 with a dramatic finish Tuesday night in the opening round. It was Fayette’s first game of the season and the third for Slater, which falls to 1-3 overall.

With 7.2 seconds on the clock in the fourth quarter, the Falcons held a slim 55-52 lead. That’s when Fayette senior Melo Hockaday sank two free throws to put his team ahead by five and clinch the win.

“That was clutch for him to step up and do that,” said Fayette coach Jon Bishop. “That’s a big thing for him, too, because he came from over there. He’s got family over there, and he grew up with some of those boys. I’m really proud of him. I wouldn’t have put anyone else there.”

Slater sophomore Brandon Terrill responded with a 3-pointer to add to his game-high total of 31 points, but it proved moot as time expired with the Falcons ahead by two.

Slater will now take on Marceline on the consolation side of the bracket. 

The athletic Slater team opened the game with a six-point run over the first two minutes. But the Falcons quickly responded with 15 straight points to jump ahead by nine. Junior Tristan Swanson knocked down a pair of open 3-point looks. Sophomore Kaleb Friebe drove in to score Fayette’s first basket of the season and knocked down a 3-pointer during Fayette’s 15-point run.

After one quarter, Fayette held a 17-10 lead. Slater cut the lead by two, making the score 29-24 at halftime in favor of Fayette.

“I knew they were going to be a talented team,” said Bishop. “I think we got ahead of them quick and hit some really good shots.”

Bishop knew his team had to come out ready in the third quarter. The Falcons opened the second half with nine straight points from behind the 3-point arc, one each by senior Chase Allen-Jackman, Hockaday, and Swanson. Slater rallied back with six straight, but the Falcons were able to inch ahead and lead 42-35 after three quarters.

“I told these guys at the end of the third, ‘if you let this falter, you’re going to hate life. You’re not going to like yourselves.’ I think they bought into that, and I was proud to see that,” Bishop explained.

After Fayette took a 10-point lead in the first 90 seconds of the fourth period, Slater began to chip away at Fayette’s lead, coming as close as three points with about three minutes left. Freshman Payton Oeth scored three of his 10 points in the fourth quarter to provide a late spark off the bench.

“I thought Payton did really well at the end, and I was glad to see that,” said Bishop. “We’re going to need that later on in the year.”

Jackman led the Falcons in scoring with a team-high 16 points amid the heavy pressure from Terrill. The senior also pulled down 10 rebounds for his seventh career double-double, and dished out three assists. Twelve of his points came during the crucial second and third quarters.

Swanson’s 12 total points all came from behind the 3-point line. The junior also brought down seven rebounds. “He’s always had a shot. And we knew if he gets good looks like that, he was going to knock them down,” said Bishop.

Fayette benefitted from the big presence of Malakai Graves in the paint. The senior scored six points, but dominated under the basket with 11 rebounds.

“It was big for him to do that,” Bishop said. “He pulled down a ton of rebounds against some guys who are bigger than him. I’m proud of that.”

Friebe came up just shy of a double-double with eight points and eight rebounds to go along with two assists and a steal.

Fayette will take on a scrappy Cairo team on Thursday for a chance to play for the tournament title. The second-seeded Bearcats dominated seventh-seeded Marceline 80-27 in the opening round on Tuesday, led by Logan Head with 22 points. Bishop said his team needs to maintain its high-intensity game against a Cairo team that he expects to press heavily.

Thursday’s game will tipoff at 6 p.m. The winner will advance to the championship at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. The loser will play for third place at 4:30 p.m.

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