Successful Psychological Tactics

An often overlooked aspect of sports is psychological and Farmington boys basketball coach Beau Thompson is vastly underrated in successfully implementing an edge into his defensive schemes.

Just lining up and hoping for the best when playing against larger schools with deeper rosters and taller lineups is a formula settling for mediocrity or tending to produce average results at best. Neither outcome is appealing to Thompson. In order to remain competitive Thompson knows a successful coach must harness facets which will not show up in any statistical basketball category.

Senior center Mac Spears is shorter than most 5A West starting post players at 6-foot-3 yet his personality is perfectly suited to tactics Thompson has subtly utilized to disrupt opposing offenses. Spears has an inbred capacity for throwing opponents off their game mentally and at times makes himself enough of a nuisance that they overreact. Never has a bigger defensive play occurred than a stop made by Farming- ton in the final 4.1 seconds while leading 59-56 against Maumelle on Friday.

On Maumelle’s previous in-bounds play from the far end after sophomore Matt Thomas’ 3-point play gave the Cardinals a 57-54 lead with 22 seconds to go, the Hornets out-schemed Farmington by rolling the ball into the front-court then calling timeout with 21 seconds left. This enabled them to set up a 3-point shot from the right corner for starting pointguard J.B. Minix, who had already made four treys but this time couldn’t connect and was scoreless in the fourth period. The Hornets got the rebound and missed another try at tying the game from beyond the arc in the left corner. With time running down D.J. Johnson claimed another offensive rebound in the lane and drove quickly to the hole.

Johnson laid the ball in as Farmington backed off avoiding any foul and a potential 3-point play. After the 2-point basket Maumelle called timeout stopping the clock with 5.6 seconds remaining but was still behind on the scoreboard, 57-56. Thompson then instructed the Cardinals to in-bound to their best freethrow shooter, Thomas, who sank a pair putting the lead back to three, at 59-56.

While Maumelle again called timeout with 4.1 seconds showing before in-bounding at the far end and inserted junior guard Barry Nixon, Thompson set a strategy in the Farmington huddle designed to prevent the Hornets from getting the kind of looks they failed to convert from 3-point-land on their previous possession. The Cardinals played a fullcourt man-to-man defense forcing Maumelle to expend vital seconds to advance the ball and although Nixon caught the ball on the left wing Spears barreled down upon the 6-feet, 155 pound junior like a freight train with horn blaring then came to an abrupt halt right in front of him without committing a foul which could have potentially yielded three free throws.

Nixon did get off a 3-point attempt, which would have counted had it gone in but Spears’ ploy so unnerved him that his shot never had a chance. Freaked out Nixon put up an airball and time expired with Farmington winning, 59-56.

For Thompson and Spears this was business as usual but an essential and easy-to-overlook component in a prevailing game-plan.