After a first playoff win, the Farmers (20-8) are hoping to cage the DeSoto Eagles (27-3) tonight at 7 p.m at Arlington High School. DeSoto, ranked second in the state in 5A according to the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches, placed first in their district and won their first playoff game against Killeen, 42-33.

This is the second year in a row for the Farmers to make playoffs. Last year they lost their first game. This year to make it farther, the team is working on getting their game back.

“We aren’t the same team as we were before Christmas break, and I feel like with this game [tonight] we should be able to regroup and become that same team again,” junior point guard Marquis Williams said.

Head coach Gary Collier said that the Eagles are not outstanding players, but they don’t make mistakes, making them a solid team. One of the players Collier has his eye on is senior power forward Terry Maston.

“He’s committed to go play at Baylor University,” Collier said. “He’s pretty good, [big inside guy].”

Williams said that that even though DeSoto has good big men, the Farmers match the strength.

Collier said that the Farmers also have another strength on the court.

“We’ve got really good guards,” Collier said. “Normally every team that we play against, our guards are better than their guards. That’s made a difference. That’s been a reason for our success this year. Our guards play so well against other teams’ guards.”

Collier said there was doubt that the team would even make it to a second game.

“We had this before,” Williams said. “A lot of teams doubted us, they doubted us at the beginning of the season against the teams we played. We just take it as confidence, we take that in and play with all our hearts.”

Collier said that the team has played long enough to not care about what people think, and he takes the negative feedback positively.

“I think we play better as the underdog when people doubt us,” Collier said. “I think we have a little bit of an ego whenever people say we’re supposed to win a game, and we go in there relaxed and not playing as hard and focused. When people tell us we’re not supposed to win this game, I look at it this way: we don’t have any pressure on us. Nobody’s expecting for us to win, and we just go out there and play hard.”

Last Tuesday, the team played well in two out of the four quarters. Collier said the team was nervous on the court in the first quarter, before playing a little more comfortable in the second quarter. The Farmers didn’t capitalize well in the third quarter, but pulled themselves together and knocked out good free throws in the fourth quarter.

Collier said that the team is playing with more confidence, swagger, and toughness, enough to bring them back to the team they were a couple months ago.

“We’re approaching [playoffs] very positively,” Collier said. “We’re going to have our work cut out but we’re ready for a challenge. All year long, we’ve had things to prove and I think it’s getting to the point where we’re focused back, we’re hungry. “We have something to prove, and we have the opportunity to prove it, so I think we’ll be fine.”