40 Point Quarter To Remember

FARMINGTON SCORES 40 IN SECOND ON WAY TO 72-38 WIN

— Defense quickly turned into offense with Farmington making 9 of 10 trifectas and erupting for 40 points in the second quarter while routing Prairie Grove 72-38 in boys basketball action Friday.

Prairie Grove could not handle Farmington’s ferocious full-court trapping defense and repeatedly turned the ball over. When the Cardinals weren’t making layups they shot the lights out from downtown, transforming a 19-7 first quarter lead into a 59-17 disparity at halftime.

“We shot 90 percent in the second quarter from the 3-point line. You’re not going to have very many quarters like that and then we had 21 steals in the first half. You combine the 21 steals with the shooting like that, that’s how you get a 40-point quarter,” said Farmington coach Johnny Taylor still marveling at what he’d just witnessed.

Unselfish teamwork played a major role in the record- setting achievement which likely represents the most points ever

scored by a Farmington basketball team in a single quarter. Mateo Carbonel began the surge with a

layup nine seconds into the second period off an assist by Nathan Monroe. Layne Taylor stole the ball down-court and Monroe sank a short jumper. Another steal led to Caleb Blakely’s spectacular follow shot while hanging in the air.

The 3-point barrage began with sophomore Sam Wells draining a trey from the right corner at the 6:13 mark of the second, the first of nine trifectas rang up by Farmington in the eight minute period. Logan Burch drilled a three on the left wing with the Cardinals clicking on all cylinders.

“I told them after the Gentry game that I called too many plays and we didn’t just play. They were thinking too much instead of just reacting and tonight we didn’t call any plays. We just played and the guys all responded. Our bench was really good. Sam Wells, [Maddox] Mahan and [Carson] Dearing gave us good minutes,” Johnny Taylor said.

Prairie Grove senior Landon Semrad picked up a loose ball and scored on a busted play getting the Tigers’ first points since 1:24 remained in the first quarter but the visitors trailed 31-9 at that juncture and Farmington would score 28 points in the next 4:43 beginning with Blakely’s old fashioned 3-point play.

Nineteen seconds later Blakely found Layne Taylor open for a 3-pointer. The sophomore sensation next made a layup off a steal, then drained another trifecta courtesy of a Blakely assist as Farmington’s lead swelled to 33 points at 42-9.

Prairie Grove suffered a turnover coming out of a time-out and Monroe hit from 10 feet. Burch buried his second trey of the period swelling the margin to 47-9. Prairie Grove finally got off a shot, their first field goal attempt in several minutes but Eric Henderson’s try from 3-point range missed.

The Tigers did get the next four points however on four straight Conner Hubbs’ free throws reducing their deficit to 47-13. Farmington nullified that 4-0 mini run by out-scoring the Tigers 12-4 over the last 2:08 of the second. The smoking hot Cardinals got 3-pointers from Monroe, Layne Taylor and Mahan to blow the game open and take a 59-17 lead into halftime. Six different Cardinals made 3-pointers in the contest.

“Tonight even when we were hitting three after three they kept

doubling him [Layne Taylor] so somebody’s open and we just kept telling them ‘shoot it’ so I think people are going to be crazy if they come to Cardinal Arena and try to double somebody because we’ve got too many weapons that can shoot it,” Johnny Taylor said.

In the second half Johnny Taylor got the luxury of getting an extended look at what Wells is capable of while running the point-guard. The sophomore used his quickness and ability to penetrate to set up his teammates for more open shots.

“Well Sam, we never question his effort. He’s got one of the highest motors on our team. We just wanted to give him an opportunity to see what he could do with making decisions. You can live with a few mistakes. We always say the doer makes mistakes and Sam is going to do enough things he’s going to do some things wrong but he is so resilient,” Johnny Taylor.

Cole Cash, Semrad and Henderson each had 3-point plays as Prairie Grove out- scored Farmington’s reserves 18-6 in the third quarter but that still wasn’t enough to get the lead below 30. The fourth began with the Cardinals up 65-35 and a running clock in effect.

Prior to the game Johnny Taylor told Wells, Mahan and Dearing he hadn’t been playing them enough.

“I scripted the first and second quarter to get them minutes and we did that against Gentry. That’s going to help us down the stretch because it just adds to our depth if somebody gets in foul trouble or somebody does have a mild injury we’ve got somebody ready that’s got more minutes and we want current experience not from months ago,” Johnny Taylor said.

Monroe finished with 16 points while Layne Taylor added 13 to pace Farmington, which got points from 10 different players.

Henderson scored 11 and Semrad had 10 points for Prairie Grove.

FARMINGTON 72, PRAIRIE GROVE 38

Farmington 19 40 6 7 — 72 Prairie Grove 7 10 18 3 — 38 Farmington (22-1, 7-0): Nathan Monroe 6 1-1 16, Layne Taylor 4

2-2 13, Maddox Mahan 3 0-0 8, Sam Wells 3 0-0 7, Caleb Blakely 3 1-1 7, Mateo Carbonel 3 0-0 6, Logan

Burch 2 0-0 6, Hunter Reaves 2 0-0 4, Luis Caselman 1 0-0 3, Noah Farmer 1 0-0 2, Asher Hester 0 0-2 0. Totals 28 4-6 72.

Prairie Grove (7-12, 3-5): Eric Henderson 3 4-4 11, Landon Semrad 4 1-3 10, Conner Hubbs 2 5-6 9, Cole Cash 1 1-1 3, Austin Henry 1 1-1 3, Ryder Orr 1 0-0 2. Totals 12 12-15 38. 3-Point Goals — Farmington 12 (Mahan 3, Monroe 3, Burch 2, L. Taylor 2, Wells, Caselman). Prairie Grove 2 (Semrad, Henderson). Rebounds — Farmington 28 (Monroe 5), Prairie Grove 25. Assists — Farmington 20 (L. Taylor 4), Prairie Grove 3. Steals — Farmington 24 (L. Taylor 5), Prairie Grove 5. Blocks — Farmington 2 (L. Taylor, Caselman), Prairie Grove 2.

MARK HUMPHREY ENTERPRISE-LEADER Prairie Grove experienced all kinds of trouble facing constant trapping and pressure by Farmington on the ball. Farmington senior Mateo Carbonel (center) recorded a steal out of this double team, one of 21 first half steals by the Cardinals while exploding for 40 points in the second quarter. Farmington won in a runaway, 72-38, over Prairie Grove in 4A-1 boys basketball action Friday at Cardinal Arena.

MARK HUMPHREY ENTERPRISE-LEADER Farmington senior Nathan Monroe (right) makes an aggressive play on the ball which he succeeded in stealing. The Cardinals had 21 steals in the first half while scoring a record 40 points in the second quarter while winning big, 72-38, over their rivals from Prairie Grove on Friday. Monroe had 16 points in the game.

MARK HUMPHREY ENTERPRISE-LEADER Farmington sophomore Layne Taylor squares up several feet beyond the 3-point line. He scored 13 points despite frequent double teams and passed to the open man as Farmington made 9-of-10 threes during a 40-point second quarter outburst on the way to beating Prairie Grove 72-38 on Friday.