Fulton boys basketball frustrated with second straight runnerup finish in Class AA

MURFEESBORO — As the final seconds ticked off, at the end of another agonizing defeat in another Class AA championship game, Edward Lacey walked off the court. 

Fulton's junior point guard, the emotional and offensive pulse of the Falcons, didn't want to be on the court. He didn't want to receive the silver ball for the second year in a row. He wanted to be in the locker room, crying and letting all the frustrations of a 59-46 loss to Wooddale out. 

"I'm not satisfied with coming in second place," Lacey said Saturday, with dried tears in his eyes and on his cheeks. "I'm tired of getting the silver ball. I'm tired of that. I want a gold one." 

A Fulton assistant coach grabbed Lacey as he reached the tunnel that led to the locker room and escorted him back to the court. Lacey had felt this feeling before, just last season, when Fulton, suffered a two-point loss to Hamilton. Lacey scored 10 points against Hamilton, just like he did against Wooddale. 

Three days after the loss to Hamilton last season, Lacey tweeted out a video highlight with the caption "Until Next Season" that showed him crying into his jersey after losing to Hamilton. Almost 365 days later and he again cried into his jersey as Fulton (28-5) received the silver ball and Lacey received a medal for making the AA All-Tournament team. 

After the Falcons were honored, they walked to the locker room and Lacey, senior guard Trey Davis and senior forward Deshawn Page went to the media room. Lacey sat in between Davis and coach Jody Wright. He put his forehead on the table, looking down at his Jordan 11s, grabbing at the back of his head as he cried. 

He took a drink of water as Davis, who led Fulton in scoring with 19 points, said that everybody in that locker room was "heartbroken." 

"We worked hard for this and we fell short," Davis said. "I love this team and we fought hard." 

Lacey cried into his hands and said,"Oh my God," as next to him, Wright said, "This is not the biggest disappointment they'll have in their lives." 

Davis glanced at the official stats in front of him. He saw Fulton had 23 turnovers against Wooddale (33-4) and said that it was too many. And to Davis' left, Page scrolled through his Twitter account as he cried. 

"Can we go?" Lacey asked after he had answered all the questions he had wanted to answer. He and Davis walked back to the locker room. 

As he walked, still with dried tears tears on his cheeks, he said, "I thought this year was the year. We played extra hard. We practiced extra hard. We had an average championship game, but not like how we wanted it to end. We wanted to win it all."