A DETERMINED Farrer Memorial Agricultural High School side has bowed out of the Combined High Schools state basketball championships.
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Hosting Mosman High School at the Tamworth Sports Dome, Farrer's open-age team was vying for a spot in the final eight.
However, despite a strong effort the home side proved no match for their city counterparts, going down by 28 points.
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Farrer centre Cooper Dickson said the group "didn't play its best" in the cut-throat clash.
"We were in the game for the first three quarters; there was probably only 10 points in it for most of that time," Dickson said.
"However, in that last quarter we lost a bit of confidence and we ended up going down by 28 points.
"It was a bit disappointing to go down like that, but our guys had a real crack and Mosman are a good team.
"I'd say Julius Fletcher and Blake Russell were among our best players, they were both really good."
Hosting a major game for the first time in five years, Farrer would have progressed to the final eight in the open division for the first time, if it had claimed victory.
"To be honest, it would have been really cool to be the first opens team to get to the final eight," Dickson said.
"Pretty much the same team got to the final eight in year 9 and we were keen to do it again.
"I reckon if we had our best team available and had brought our best game, I think we could have got there - but it wasn't to be.
"However, it was really cool to play in front of our home crowd.
"It's pretty rare for us to play a big game like this on our home court, it would have been nice to get over the line for everyone who was there supporting us, but that's how it goes."
Farrer will now turn its attention to its annual clash with The Armidale School (TAS) next weekend.
"We have a pretty long-standing rivalry with TAS," Dickson said.
"A win against them would be a really good way for our guys to go out on a high."