Taylor’s switch works as Farmington beats Dumas

“We tried to play some zone, and that wasn’t smart.” Farmington coach Johnny Taylor on his team’s struggles Saturday

BERGMAN — Farmington boys basketball coach Johnny Taylor said he wanted to use Saturday afternoon’s game against Dumas as an opportunity to see his team’s zone defense.

When he decided to ditch that experiment, the Cardinals became really defensive.

Farmington held Dumas scoreless for more than a 12-minute span through the second and third quarters, and that allowed the Cardinals to record their third straight blowout win with a 71- 45 decision in the third annual Harness Roofing Hoopsgiving Classic.

“Our kids did a better job of keeping the ball in front of us and playing off the scouting report,” Taylor said. “In the first quarter, we were just over-extending. We tried to play some zone, and that wasn’t smart. That was my fault.

“We tried to get into an extended 3-2, and it did not look good. We’ll probably ditch that for a while because our man defense was really good.”

Dumas, last year’s Class 3A state runner-up, led 21-17 after one quarter, and Tim Martin followed a Layne Taylor 3-pointer with a bucket to make it a 23-20 game with 6 minutes, 48 seconds left in the first half. That shot, however, was the last one the Bobcats hit until Raylen Spratt scored with 2:21 left in the third quarter.

By that time, Farmington (3-0) had turned the game into a rout. Layne Taylor, who finished with a game-high 32 points and was named the game’s most valuable player, had nine points in the second quarter as the Cardinals closed out the first half with a 15-0 run and a 35-23 lead.

Taylor became even hotter in the third quarter as Farmington picked up where it left off and scored 11 more points before Spratt’s bucket ended the run. The Cardinals eventually enjoyed a 58-30 lead to start the fourth quarter and forced the running clock when Sam Kirkman’s 3-pointer made it 63-33 with 6:31 remaining.

“The biggest thing for us was reading the defense,” Johnny Taylor said. “I didn’t think, in the first quarter, he didn’t do a good job of reading our defense, and I thought (Jaeden) Newsom, our number 3, started off the game struggling to read it.

“As it went on, they did a better job of making a decision on what they were given.”

Taylor was the only player in double figures for Farmington, which returns Monday to take on host Bergman. Spratt finished with 11 to lead Dumas.

BERGMAN 71, JESSIEVILLE 45

Dylan Friend and Walker Patton combined for 18 of Bergman’s 20 points in the second quarter as the Panthers blew out Jessieville and remained unbeaten.

Jessieville had taken an 11-10 lead on Zhen Denger’s 3-pointer to start the second quarter, but Friend scored 10 points and Patton added 8 as Bergman (12-0) went on to post a 30-20 halftime lead. The Panthers led by as much as 54-24 late in the third quarter, but Jessieville avoided the running clock to start with four straight points to end the quarter.

Friend led Bergman with 26 points, followed by Patton with 18 and Kaden Ponder with 11. Noah Futch led Jessieville with 27 points.