Coming off a three-game winning streak, the Carl Hayden Falcons boys basketball team faced off against the Fairfax Stampede on Saturday to play in their third away game in three days.

In a game elecrtified by defense and offensive efficiency, the Falcons came out and toppled the Stampede, resulting in a win for the Falcons.

The Falcons defeated the Stampede with a final score of 64-48 and secured their fourth straight win.

The game started off as an even matchup between the Falcons, who came into the game with a record of  7-11 and the Stampede coming into the game with a record of 6-7.

The Falcons came out the gate playing both strong defense and offense to start the game, however the Stampede did not stand down, by answering every shot the Falcons made with a shot of their own. 

For a moment in the first quarter, the Falcons struggled with some mental lapses, which resulted in unnecessary turnovers and points for the Stampede.

For Falcons head coach Rodney Brown, he knew he needed to calm his team down.

“I just told them to relax and play our style of ball. We don’t need to play anybody else’s style of ball, play Carl Hayden basketball and if we play our style of basketball we will win,” Brown said.

From there the Falcons continued a close battle, with up until the fourth quarter, the lead being as large as eight points.

The chance of a close game for the Stampede came to an abrupt end with the Falcons dominating the fourth quarter. 

The Falcons came out on all cylinders to win the game by 14 points and were given a huge boost from junior forward Adrien Armstong. 

Armstong took over the fourth quarter and became a nightmare for the Stampede, scoring more than half of his 15 points in the fourth quarter.

Armstong enerrgized his team with strong defense and three powerful dunks in the fourth quarter, which resulted in him receiving his first technical foul of his career.

For Armstong, he was glad he could put on a show and help the team win.

“I had a lot of people here. This is my old school so I was just putting on for Carl Hayden,” Armstong said.

Armstong led the Falcons second in scoring only to his teammate, senior forward Jordan Talbert, who scored 18 points. 

Talbert started the game off strong for the Falcons but began to get in a little bit of foul trouble during the game. 

Talbert highlighted that he was glad that the energy he had during the game passed onto his teammates as well.

“It’s really just energy. Even though I started to foul out a little bit, I went onto the bench and players came off the bench and that energy just carried on,” Talbert said.

The Falcons had got a rough start to the season with a couple of losses, but ended their week with some big wins and this game was just the cherry on top of a successful week.“It feels great. Everything's just falling together and we are putting first and second quarter energy together and we are finishing off our games so it feels really good,” Talbert said.

This win for the Falcons puts them in the number one ranking for the 5A Metro division as they prepare to face off against the Camelback Spartans on Monday.