Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Documenting Nonstatistical Contributions
TAYLOR’S PRESENCE ON COURT STABILIZES CARDINALS IN ROAD WIN
FARMINGTON — The humility of Farmington’s leading scorer, Layne Taylor, contributed in ways that don’t show up in the scorebook in Farmington’s 38-29 road win at Pea Ridge on Tuesday, Jan. 11.
Layne Taylor, who set a single game scoring record with a 61- point outburst against Huntsville on Dec. 9, proved a valuable decoy over the last 4: 30 of the third and throughout the fourth quarter. His statistical line shows a single point on 50 percent free throw shooting but hid the true impact.
“You know Layne doesn’t even care how much he scores, to be honest. He just wants to win, but it just happens. I mean he can score the ball so well,” said teammate Logan Burch.
Layne’s father, Farmington boys basketball coach Johnny Taylor, sent him to the scorer’s table to check in after a Cardinal turnover led to a Kindon Cates bucket in the lane off a spin move that cut Farmington’s lead to 26-25 with 5:28 left in the third quarter.
As play continued Caleb Blakely, who along with Mateo Carbonel scored 12 points to pace the Cardinals, hit a turnaround bank shot in the post giving Farmington a 3- point cushion and still Layne Taylor set at the scorer’s table awaiting a stop in the action. Johnny Taylor preferred not to expend a time- out and he didn’t have to burn one although another 21 seconds ran off the clock before the Cardinal defense forced a turnover with Pea Ridge throwing the ball out of bounds.
At that juncture Layne Taylor stepped onto the court for the first time since leaving with a sprained ankle after making a 3-pointer with 2:10 remaining in the first quarter of a Tuesday, Jan. 4, win at Prairie Grove.
Layne Taylor’s presence on the court stabilized Farmington’s offense. Mankind has no technology to measure this yet the confidence level in the four other players in the lineup immediately went up. On the opposite bench Pea Ridge coach Trent Loyd recognized his defense was going to have to account for Layne Taylor and his scoring potential even with limited mobility.
Farmington didn’t score on its first possession with Layne Taylor on the court but everybody knew why he substituted in.
The Cardinals wanted a conference win and they would get it.
Layne Taylor’s first statistical contribution occurred at the 3:50 mark of the third quarter when he pick-pocketed the dribble away from Pea Ridge, the first of two Cardinal defensive stops that deprived the Blackhawks of an opportunity to tie the game. The second occurred when Pea Ridge suffered another turnover.
Farmington inbounded and ran 49 seconds off before Nathan Monroe, who’s been picking his spots and asserting himself offensively at strategic moments in the nine quarters the Cardinals played without Layne Taylor, hit a pull-up bank shot to finish a drive.
Some facts of Layne Taylor’s impact can be ascertained. From the moment he first went to the scorer’s table and everybody knew he was going to check into Farmington’s lineup until the end of the third quarter, a span of 4:51, the Cardinals outscored Pea Ridge 5-1, increasing their lead to 31-26 going into the fourth quarter.
Wi t h Farmington’s extended possessions eating the clock that differential loomed large.
Layne Taylor played under tremendous discipline, not an easy task for a basketball player accustomed to scoring at will. During a three-game stretch Dec. 2- 4 Layne Taylor scored 39, 40 and 41 points as the Cardinals won the Chickasaw Classic hosted by Blytheville.
During this game he protected his body refraining from making any quick moves to the basket over- ruling his instincts. He didn’t post up and he didn’t take any 3-point shots although that threat poked like a thorn in the side of the Blackhawks on the floor along with their coaches and fans.
The clock was his ally as long as the Cardinals held the lead and Layne Taylor carried out the game plan honoring his father and head coach. A minute-anda-half into the fourth Layne Taylor walked the ball across the time line and Farmington ran a long set capped by a pair of Carbonel free throws earned by posting up and making a quick move to the basket.
Sam Wells, whose energetic influence played a major part in the Cardinals outscoring their opponents 114-100 in the nine quarters without Layne Taylor, came away with a steal in the paint. Wells finished with three points, four steals, four rebounds and four assists. Carbonel converted that extra possession into points by driving for a layup and a 35-26 Farmington lead with the clock inside four minutes.
Jared Brewer came off a screen and drained a 3- pointer, cutting Farmington’s lead to 35-29, but Farmington’s fourth quarter defense with Layne Taylor in the lineup smothered Pea Ridge and the Blackhawks wouldn’t score another point.
In the last minute Carbonel prevented a potential layup by giving up a foul in the open court. Pea Ridge wasn’t in the bonus and Burch further frustrated the Blackhawks by by stealing a lob on the inbounds play.
“Coach Taylor watches so much game film. We’ve been going over their in-bounds plays and I anticipated it,” Burch said.
Forced to foul to stop the clock Pea Ridge sent Layne Taylor to the free-throw line shooting a 1-and-1 with 27.9 seconds to go.
He swished the first to get his name in the box score but missed the second. Blakely epitomizes an opportunist on the basketball court and the 6- feet-1 junior controlled the rebound, scoring easily. Carbonel then sacrificed himself for the team by deliberately committing his fifth foul which sent him to the bench but prevented Pea Ridge from getting off a shot and forced the Blackhawks to expend seconds off what little time remained and inbound the ball.
They couldn’t score and Farmington walked out of Blackhawk Arena with a key 38-29 conference win.
Farmington overcame a 12-6 deficit at the end of the first quarter with an 18-9 surge in the second quarter. Maddox Mahan’s steal led to Carbonel’s putback, the first of six straight Cardinal points that evened the score at 12-12.
Farmington scored 10 points in the last 3:40 of the first half. Burch kick-started that offensive explosion by taking a cross- court pass from Carbonel and drilling a trifecta. Brewer beat Farmington’s press and tied the game at 21-21 with a left- handed layup. The Cardinals held the ball, maintaining possession for the final 45 seconds of the half, and took a 24-21 halftime lead when Burch made 3-of-3 free throws with no time left.
FARMINGTON 38, PEA RIDGE 29 Farmington 6 18 7 7 — 38 Pea Ridge 12 9 5 3 — 29 Pea Ridge (8-11, 2-2): Jared Brewer 5 0-0 11, Joshua Turner 3 0-0 6, Kindon Cates 1 3-4 5, Austin James 2 0-0 5, Luke Baker 1 0-0 2. Totals 12 3-4 29.
Farmington (17-1, 4-0): Caleb Blakely 6 0-0 12, Mateo Carbonel 4 4-5 12, Logan Burch 1 3-3 6, Nathan Monroe 2 0-0 4, Sam Wells 1 1-2 3, Layne Taylor 0 1-2 1. Totals 14 9-12 38.
3-Point Goals — Pea Ridge 2 (Brewer, James). Farmington 1 (Burch).