Farmington shoots way to regional final

FARMINGTON 54, DARDANELLE 32

OZARK —Farmington scorched the nets just before the break with hot shooting, and the Cardinals didn’t look back after that on Friday at the Hillbilly Activity Center.

Farmington made nine shots from the field in a row in the second quarter that helped it pull away for a 54-32 victory over Dardanelle in the semifinals of the 4A North Regional tournament.

“I thought the pressure of the elimination game was off and offensively our guys were able to spread them out and get things we wanted,” Farmington coach Johnny Taylor said. “We were able to manipulate them around the court. They did a job on offense.”

The key second quarter allowed the Cardinals to take a 31-14 advantage into halftime. Farmington made nine of its 10 shots in the quarter.

Layne Taylor was a big part of the offense when Farmington started to build its lead. Layne Taylor didn’t have any points in the first quarter, but he quickly made up for that after that. He scored a teamhigh 10 second-quarter points to help spark the offense.

“They are playing him with their best defender,” Johnny Taylor said. “It took a while, but we figured out we can hide him and isolate other guys. It was huge and he knocked down some big shots in that second quarter.”

Layne Taylor went on to finish with a game-high 17 points for Farmington (21-4). Roman Carlson scored seven second-quarter points and finished with 11 in the game as well.

Dardanelle (22-6) was guided by Marteez Jackson and Sam Williams each scoring a team-high seven points.

Layne Taylor and Carlson jump-started the offense by combining to score the initial 12 points for Farmington in the second quarter. The Cardinals used runs of 9-2 then 12-3 to run up the advantage.

“We didn’t play very well, and they played extremely well in that quarter,” Dardanelle coach Russell Sturdivant said. “That’s when they got the separation from us. We are disappointed in what we did on offense. We feel like we can get to 50 points each night.”

The Sand Lizards were able to get their offense going in the third quarter. After the break, they used a 9-2 run to cut Farmington’s lead to 33-23. The Cardinals then used a 7-0 run of their own, capped with a basket from Mateo Carbonel, to push back out the edge to 40-23 late in the third quarter.

“We talked about our advantage was we had time to prepare for them, but they didn’t have time to prepare for us,” Johnny Taylor said. “When you win your conference or district, you give yourself that opportunity. We took advantage of that. Our kids are so intelligent most of our game plan was put in place yesterday. I’ve coached a lot of teams in 21 years that couldn’t do that on a day turnaround.”

Farmington took a 42-25 edge into the fourth quarter and scored the initial five points of the frame. That allowed them to extend the lead out to 47-25 and advance to the regional championship game.

Dardanelle finished just 12 of 38 from the field in the game, shooting 32%, and also had 10 first-half turnovers. Farmington made 58% of its shots (18 of 31) in the game.

MORRILTON 52, BERRYVILLE 48

The Devil Dogs fell behind early, but they picked up the pace on offense after that to advance to the regional championship game.

Morrilton was led by Joseph Pinion, who is committed to the University of Arkansas. He finished with 16 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks. Brock Hendrix added 11 points and Darrius Allison chipped in 10 points for the Devil Dogs.

Berryville’s balanced offense had four double-digit scorers with Nate Allen (12 points), Jake Wilson (11), Weston Teague (10) and Landon Chester (10).

GIRLS PEA RIDGE 57, HARRISON 54

The Lady Blackhawks found themselves down 46-39 entering the fourth quarter but rallied to advance to the championship game.

Pea Ridge got a game-high 19 points from Isabella Cates and 17 from Blakelee Winn.

Alex Hill scored 18 and Sydney Shrum added 11 points for Harrison.

The Lady Blackhawks opened the final quarter with a 10-2 run to take a 49-48 edge with about three minutes left.

The Lady Goblins cut the lead to 5150 with about a minute left points from Shrum. Pea Ridge then was able to make it a 54-50 lead with 39 seconds left with free throws.

MORRILTON 47, FARMINGTON 44

Morrilton defeated Farmington to advance to the regional championship.

Morrilton got a game-high 23 points from Cheyanne Kemp.

Tori Kersey had 18 points all in the second half to lead the Farmington offense. Megan Hernandez also chipped in 10 for the Lady Cardinals.