Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Hornets Buzz By Cardinals
FARMINGTON — Going back 30 years, Farmington coach Beau Thompson can count the number of Division- I scholarship players who played in the Cardinals’ conference on one hand. There are four to be exact. Maumelle ( 11-1 overall, 1- 0 in 5A-West play) potentially has three on this year’s team, which pulled away for a 82-61 victory here on Friday, Jan. 8.
“That team is ultra talented and will have a chance to win our league,” Thompson said. “Against a team like that, we’ve got to pick our poison. They’re so much quicker and more athletic than us. We have to force them to beat us 20 feet from the basket, and they did tonight.”
The Hornets had four players finish in double figures, including Demarian Johnson with 19, Darius Tate with 16 and Tremont Robinson with 14.
But it was Shawn Williams, a 6-foot-1 senior who signed with East Carolina in November, who initiated most of his team’s offense. Williams, who celebrated his 18th birthday on Friday, finished with 14 points and provided the highlight of the game when he got trapped underneath the basket. He bounced the ball high off the floor and in front of the rim for Robinson, a
6-2 junior who hammered home a one-handed dunk off of the unorthodox alley oop.
It capped off a 14-0 fourth quarter run and a 23-4 run after Farmington had cut the deficit to 61-47 on a threepointer by Matt Wilson late in the third quarter.
Maumelle coach Michael Shook showed about a 36-inch vertical of his own and pumped his right fist after Robinson’s dunk, the Hornets’ third of the game.
“They know that I’m going to be their biggest cheerleader, so I don’t mind getting excited like that,” Shook said. “I encourage plays like that because I know it helps momentum and when we share the ball, we get open shots.”
“We do have very, very talented players. When we play like we did tonight, where we share the ball and play defense, I believe we are a very dangerous team.”
Farmington won the opening tip, surprising the crowd and a smiling Cardinals senior Brice Waggle in the process. But Maumelle recorded three steals before the Cards even attempted a field goal.
A couple of l ong three-pointers (about eight feet behind the line) by Williams, a pair of 3-pointers from Johnson and a two-handed dunk by Robinson helped push the Hornets out to an early 27-8 advantage.
“In practice, there’s no way we can duplicate their speed, and that’s going to take a few possessions to adapt to,” Thompson said.
But the Cardinals, using offensive rebounding, answered with a 12-0 run that was capped off by a reverse layup by Matt Thomas to trim the deficit to 27-20 with 2:08 remaining in the first half.
Midway through the third quarter, Farmington trimmed the margin to 51-43 on backto-back buckets by Wilson.
“I thought we played really hard and did a good job in the second and third quarter of whittling it down,” Thompson said. “They stretched about an eight-point lead to 25 about as fast as you possibly can. That’s the sign of a very good team.”
Shook reminded his team of last season’s game here heading into its game-deciding, fourth quarter run.
“Last year, with a few minutes left in the third quarter, we were up 17 and we ended up losing,” Shook said. “So we really ingrained that in them, that we’re not going to let up and not let what happened last year happen again, and I was proud of the way we responded.”
GIRLS
MAUMELLE 59, FARMINGTON 52
The Lady Hornets broke a 38-all tie heading into the fourth quarter by turning up its full-court defensive pressure, resulting in a 10-1 run and a 21-14 scoring advantage over the final eight minutes.
The Lady Cardinals jumped out to a 6-0 lead and led at various times though the game before struggling to break the press down the stretch.