The Fayette boys were eliminated from the Glasgow Tournament on Friday with a heartbreaking overtime loss to sixth-seeded Slater 70-66 in the consolation semifinals. The Falcons, seeded seventh, lost their season opener to second-seeded Harrisburg in the first round.

The Glasgow Tournament boasts a stacked list of some of the area’s best teams from the top through bottom seeds. And for a team like Fayette, which is in just the second year of a rebuilding process after hitting rock bottom two years ago, the weeklong gauntlet serves as an early test.

Fayette coach Brandon Friebe is leading the team out of the mire in his second stint as head coach of the Falcons. He said that letting Friday’s game slip away is only a failure if his team doesn’t grow from the experience.

“Ultimately, we are disappointed with the outcome of a game that we led most of the way, and just simply let slip through our fingers,” he said. “There are plenty of things we can work to correct and tighten up before New Franklin rolls into town on Tuesday.”

Once again, there were plenty of bright spots on which the Falcons can build as the season gets in full swing. Senior Charles Alexander scored a game-high 29 points with three buckets from the arc and went 5-for-7 from the line. Nine of his points came in the fourth quarter, and he scored six of Fayette’s eight overtime points.

“Charles Alexander carried us on his shoulders in this game,” Friebe said. “He played a very solid game from top to bottom tonight. I thought, with perhaps one or two exceptions, he played exceptionally smart tonight on both ends of the floor. He did a great job letting the game come to him and not forcing things. He was very patient and hit some extraordinarily big buckets for us.”

Another spark came from junior point guard Colten Cross, who was questionable to play with an ankle injury until about a half-hour before tipoff. Even with the injury, he still managed to bank 16 points, 11 of which came over the middle two quarters.

“Colten’s performance on basically one good ankle was one of the gutsiest performances from any player I’ve coached,” Friebe said. “I’m so proud of him and his leadership.”

Fayette’s big man, senior Payton Oeth, banked eight points and scored in overtime. Sophomore Blake Braden also scored eight over the first three quarters. Senior Jaron Cross added a triple in the third quarter, and sophomore Parker LaValley rounded out the scoring with two points.

Fayette led most of the game, outscoring Slater 44-38 over the first three periods. But the Wildcats dug deep in the fourth quarter, scoring 20 points to tie the game. Maddox Tyler propelled Slater with eight points.

Slater then outscored Fayette 12-8 in overtime, converting four of 10 free throws to emerge with the come-from-behind victory.

The Wildcats would eventually fall 57-55 to eighth-seeded Marceline in the consolation final on Saturday.

Fayette had just two days off to prepare for its home opener against another strong opponent. On Tuesday, after the Advertiser went to press, the Falcons hosted New Franklin. The Bulldogs finished second overall in last week’s tournament, defeating top-seeded Glasgow in double overtime in a brilliant semifinal performance. They eventually lost to tournament champions Westran on Saturday.

Tuesday’s tipoff was scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

The Falcons’ schedule doesn’t get any easier. They play their second of just seven home games next Tuesday against Westran.