Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Cards Can’t Buy A Call
VIOLA DEALS FARMINGTON 78-66 LOSS
FARMINGTON — The first half of Farmington’s, 78-66, loss to Viola on Monday, Nov. 23, looked like it was played in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Atlanta or maybe Phoenix, anywhere but Cardinal Arena.
Viola left little doubt its boys basketball team was playing well, but the contest was mired by a myriad of calls and no calls that hurt the Cardinals, who trailed 46- 26 at intermission. Devonte Donovan, fresh off the football field, didn’t receive any welcome back to the hardwood from the officials. The 6- 4 senior drew three ticky-tack fouls during a stretch that saw the Longhorns extend their lead from 23-21 to 20 points getting four extra points off free throws.
At one juncture, Viola’s Blaine Marberry threw up an airball in the paint and grabbed his own rebound. Traveling was not called.
In another sequence Farmington threw a lob to Caleb Blakely. As he elevated to go for the pass, Viola players held him down and a jumpball was called resulting in a Farmington turnover with the alternate possession going to the Longhorns.
Then in the second half Viola’s Mason Luna got whistled for a reach-in foul taking away a fast- break opportunity for the Cardinals. At the other end, a foul was called on Farmington’s Layne Taylor falling out-ofbounds. All he did was block out on the rebound. On the in-bounds play Layne Taylor was called for his fourth personal while standing flatfooted holding his ground with Viola’s Mason Luna jumping into him and bowling him over.
Mason Luna’s basket counted and he was awarded a free-throw pushing Viola’s lead to 49-26.
Home- court advantage became non-existent. This wasn’t something going down in Detroit, Milwaukee or Las Vegas. Farmington was playing at home, but one would never have known that by watching the game. Viola attempted 26 free throws and made 19. That was more than Farmington attempted. The Cardinals went 9- of-16 at the freethrow line.
Little wonder that Farmington’s boys basketball team suffered their first loss of the season to Viola, 78-66, in nonconference play at Cardinal Arena on Monday, Nov. 23.
Layne Taylor finished with 21 points to lead all scorers. He was joined in double figures by Blakely with 15 and Nathan Monroe with 12.
Six Viola players scored at least 7 points and the brother quartet of Mason Luna (20), Bryson Luna (10), Landon Luna (8) and Austin Luna (7) combined for 45 points. Gage Harris scored 14 points for the Longhorns.
VIOLA 78, FARMINGTON 66
Viola 16 16 6 11 — 49 Farmington 14 15 11 14 — 54 Farmington (5-0): Layne Taylor 6 5-8 21, Caleb Blakely 7 1-3 15, Nathan Monroe 5 1-1 12, Logan Burch 3 0-0 8, Mateo Carbonel 2 3-4 7, Devonte Donovan 2 0-0 4. Totals 25 9-16 66. Viola (9-1): Mason Luna 7 5-5 20, Blaine Marberry 7 3-8 17, Gage Harris 3 6-7 14, Bryson Luna 4 2-2 10, Landon Luna 2 2-2 8, Auston Luna 3 1-2 7, Bryson Love 1 0-0 2. Totals 27 19-26 78.
3-Point Goals — Farmington 7 (Layne Taylor 4, Burch 2, Monroe), Viola 6 (Harris 2, Landon Luna 2, Mason Luna 2).
Rebounds — Farmington 30, Viola 29. Assists — Farmington 16, Viola 22. Steals — Farmington 7, Viola 11. Blocks — Farmington 1, Viola 2.