Fort Worth Country Day boys basketball falls in SPC championship game

In a thrilling Southwest Preparatory Conference (SPC) Class 3A boys basketball championship matchup, the gritty Fort Worth Country Day Falcons fell 61-55 in overtime to the Episcopal School of Dallas Eagles on Saturday at Trinity Valley High School.

When junior Reed Haven sank a free throw with 32 seconds left, that gave the Country Day a 53-52 lead, its first of the entire game.

More drama unfolded.

ESD sophomore Asher Lear swished home a long-range 3-pointer with 8.9 ticks left in regulation, giving the Eagles a two-point advantage.

Haven responded with a driving layup as time expired to deadlock the game at 55-55 and force a four-minute overtime. However, ESD held Country Day scoreless in OT while putting up six points to take the championship.

Country Day had rallied from a 14-point second-period deficit, trailing 23-9, when senior Jack Wegman drained a trio of 3-pointers to key a 15-4 Falcons streak that narrowed the gap to 27-24 at intermission.

A 10-3 spurt by ESD coming out of the break pushed the Country Day deficit to 10 points. Slowly the Falcons chipped away at the Eagles’ lead, with sophomore Major Factor’s two free throws tying the game at 52 apiece with less than a minute left.

That set the stage for the wild finish in regulation.

Country Day, which fell 53-47 to ESD on Jan. 6, just could not generate any offense in the overtime.

Head coach Jarvis Ray was proud of his team’s efforts.

“So pleased with the way the guys battled back throughout the game,” Ray said. “We were down several times, and rallied. No quit in this team. Just came up short in the overtime.”

Second seed Fort Worth Country Day (24-9), No. 8 in the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches final rankings on Feb. 9, was led by Haven with a team-high 19 points. Canaan Factor added 15, and Wegman tallied 13 for the Falcons, who won their lone SPC title in 2001.

Wegman canned six 3-pointers en route to a game-high 26 in Country Day’s 63-49 semifinal win over Arlington Oakridge. Country Day ousted Houston Awty International 70-59 in the quarterfinals.

The Eagles, last year’s runners-up, were led by juniors Drew Guy and Kizer Salmon, who finished with 23 and 21 points, respectively.

Episcopal School of Dallas (22-10), the No. 1 seed in the tourney, won its fourth overall title, and the first since a 2008-10 three-peat.

This story was originally published February 15, 2026 at 6:15 PM.