Washington County Enterprise-Leader
‘Battle Of 62’ RIVALRY UNDER WAY
Farmington Avenges Early Season Loss
The Battle of 62 hardwood hoops rivalry between Farmington and Prairie Grove drew a full house on Friday. Read more on
PRAIRIE GROVE — The Farmington Cardinals marred the Prairie Grove senior night festivities and avenged an early season loss to their 4A-1 foe, with a 58-35 victory over the Tigers on Friday at Prairie Grove.
The Cardinals trailed by a point at intermission, but came out firing bombs from behind the arc in the third period, connecting on six shots from downtown, with four of those coming from the hand of Jared Martin who led all scorers with 17 points.
“It is that much easier when you hit your shots,” Cardinal coach Beau Thompson said.
“We’ve lost a bunch of close games, but feel we’ve been getting better with each game. I don’t think we are a pushover by any means heading into the district tournament.” Thompson said.
Turnovers and sloppy play plagued both teams in the early going, with neither team making a shot from the field until the 2:58 mark of the opening period when Martin stroked a triple that gave the Cardinals a 4-1 advantage.
Prairie Grove’s Matt Glenn connected on two shots from behind the arc, which helped the Tigers take a 7-6 lead, however, a pair of baskets from Alex Dellett and Chase Garner enabled Farmington to claim a 10-8 lead after one frame.
Farmington’s lead evaporated following a 7-0 Tiger run, fueled by baskets from Jordan Baumgarner, Chad Battles and a trifecta by Cameron Doughty. Josh Mueller halted the Tiger run with a 3-ball that closed the Tiger lead to 15-13.
Prairie Grove’s lead was six points at the 2:47 mark following a coast-to-coast layup and “old-fashioned” three-point play by Delton Rhodes. Farmington’s Matt Bracket responded with two consecutive buckets, the second coming on a steal and two-handed slam that closed the gap to 21-19. Mueller countered a Baumgarner basket with a 3pointer, which made the score 23-22 at halftime.
Farmington opened the floodgates
Rain on the parade. Matt Brackett, of Farmington, threw two dunks down against Prairie Grove as the Tigers celebrated senior night. In the hardwood version of the “Battle of 62” rivalry, Farmington won the boys basketball game, 58-35, on Friday.