Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Farmington Boys Win Cardinal Classic Finale
LIFE AFTER SCORING 61 POINTS
FARMINGTON — Farmington adapted against a Hot Springs Lakeside defense designed to shut down high scoring guard Layne Taylor and employed solid defense of its own to beat the Rams 47-35.
Farmington improved to 9-0 with the nonconference boys basketball win to wrap up the Cardinal Classic tournament held Thursday through Saturday the second week of December at Cardinal Arena.
“Our kids did a good job. We were trying to put two [defenders] on him most of the game and our kids did an outstanding job. We held him under his average for sure. Our goal was 20 or less points for him tonight and I think he got 21 so our kids did a great job tonight on him. He’s a tough kid,” said Lakeside coach Eddie Lamb.
Team Player
Coming off a school record 61 points the night before against Huntsville, Layne Taylor didn’t approach the contest with any notions of firing at will. His cool demeanor focused on nothing but working to win the game. Besides his 21 points, Layne Taylor handed out five assists, accounted for three deflections and two steals with five defensive rebounds.
“We don’t care what our stats are and that’s why I love our team because all of our guys have the mentality we have one area we really want to be selfish and that’s rebounding and defense and our guys they can be as selfish as they want doing that,” said his father, Farmington coach Johnny Taylor.
Farmington led 12-4 after one quarter but Lakeside cut it to three early in the second on senior point guard Taevon Johnson’s 3- pointer followed by his assist to Atreal Howard.
Defensive Skills
On the next two possessions Farmington senior Mateo Carbonel slipped inside the Lakeside defense for a left- handed layup, restoring the margin to seven with the Cardinals leading 16-9.
“We ran some sets and we wanted to spend some time seeing if we could play fouron- three,” Johnny Taylor said.
Johnson nailed another trey but Farmington held the Rams without a point over the last 3:17 of the first half and held a 9-point lead, 23-14, at intermission due in part to Carbonel laboring on defense despite picking up his third foul 23 seconds into the second quarter.
“His ability changed the game defensively. He can take someone out. Those two guys defensively for us [are strong]. Taevon Johnson No. 1 and [Lakeside shooting guard] Alveon Harris are really good players for them and Mateo and Blakely did such a great job guarding them today. They’re athletic and they can shoot it. I thought we did a good job of guarding them,” Johnny Taylor said.
Layne Gets Looks
Farmington got Layne Taylor more looks at the basket during the third quarter and he doubled his first half production with seven points in the period.
“In the third quarter [like] we said at the half, ‘let’s try a few of our sets and see what happens.’ We were able to get some wall screens and some things to get him loose and that kind of opened it up again,” Johnny Taylor said.
Farmington led 34-24 at the end of the third quarter.
Situation Substitutions
In the chess match against Lamb, Johnny Taylor went with situation substitution, rotating senior Logan Burch in for offense and Carson Dearing in for defense. That strategy worked out down the stretch. Although Burch didn’t get a lot of shots his presence on the court forced Lakeside to account for his whereabouts because of his 3-point range.
Johnny Taylor hailed Logan’s ability to understand the game and make free throws if the Rams fouled.
“We knew if they foul he would be in there and then just to give us more ball handling. That’s what I was talking about with Carson Dearing. Carson Dearing did such a good job defensively today,” Johnny Taylor said. “Carson Dearing, his length around the basket, that probably doesn’t show up in the statistical book other than some rebounds, he was the reason we won today because you take Carson out of that and they were gashing us inside. We put him in there and he clogged it up, was able to get rebounds and we had a little size in there.”
Rebounding Capabilities
During a crucial sequence Farmington demonstrated its ability to crash the boards against a taller team.
Blakely made the front end of a 1-and-1, but missed the second. Carbonel snared the rebound and was fouled. His free throw extended the Cardinal lead to 45-33 with 1:15 to go.
“Him and Mateo lead us in tips. You know Caleb missed a free throw and Mateo got a [missed] free throw rebound. Then they let Mateo shoot a free throw and if we miss it Caleb’s probably going to get it,” Johnny Taylor said.
Carbonel led the team with 11 rebounds, five offensive, while Blakely contributed nine rebounds including four on the offensive glass. The duo also combined for 18 points.
Opponent’s Perspective
Dearing controlled the defensive glass and Layne Taylor made both shots of the double bonus. Lamb pulled his starters, sending reserves out for the last 60 seconds. Lamb noted the Rams have three sophomores playing with a mix of upperclassmen and a good junior class.
“Three things, we want to have fun, build chemistry and try to win a few games along the way and over the years we’ve done that. Two years ago we won the tournament and then last year the pandemic hurt us but we always enjoy Farmington and we appreciate the hospitality. Our kids love it and I think they [Farmington] like for us to come up here so we enjoy it,” Lamb said.
Johnny Taylor also appreciated the competition against an athletic bunch that challenged the Cardinals both offensively and defensively.
“Eddie does a really good job and I love his big kids. We just tried to clog the paint up because his two posts are really good,” Johnny Taylor said. “Our guys, we’ve seen so many different approaches defensively on the doubles and the traps. We will watch this film and we’ll get better from this too.”
FARMINGTON 47, LAKESIDE 35
Lakeside 4 10 10 11 — 35 Farmington 12 11 11 13 — 47 Farmington (9-0): Layne Taylor
7 5-6 21, Mateo Carbonel 5 1-2
11, Nathan Monroe 2 2-2 8, Caleb Blakely 3 1-2 7. Totals 17 9-12 47. Lakeside (5-2): Atreal Howard 6 0-0 13, Taevon Johnson 3 1-2 9, Jamison Craig 2 0-0 4, Alveon Harris 1 1-4 3, Skylar Purifoy 1 0-2 2, Ahmod Davis 1 0-0 2, Braylen Russell 1 0-2 2. Totals 15 2-10 35.
3-Point Goals — Farmington 4 (Layne Taylor 2, Monroe 2), Lakeside 3 (Johnson 2, Howard).