Cardinals On Cusp Of 30 Win Season

FARMINGTON BOYS RILE APACHES 70-56

FARMINGTON — Leaning backwards Nathan Monroe tipped a pass to Mateo Carbonel, who got the ball to Layne Taylor and he drilled a 3-pointer 13 seconds into Farmington’s 70- 56 win Saturday.

That type of effort typified Farmington’s boys basketball team claiming their second straight trip to state by beating Pottsville at the 4A North Regional and advancing into the tournament semifinals. Layne Taylor finished with a game-high 26 points and delivered an array of assists to teammates, Caleb Blakely (13), Mateo Carbonel (12), and Nathan Monroe (12)), with the trio accounting for 37 points between them.

Pottsville expended a lot of energy trying to find an open shot against Farmington’s constant pressure. That took its toll. By the fourth quarter the Apaches were shooting airballs.

“Our guys did a great job of speeding them up. In the first half we had them going fast. Their coach did a good job of spreading us out to where it was harder for us to get to the rotation but we made enough shots where we were able to out-score them, too, and for us if we score enough points you can screw up some on defense if you’re still scoring the basketball,” Johnny Taylor said.

Farmington held leads of 23-10 after one quarter, and 37-21 at halftime then had to withstand a mini Apache run late in the third quarter. Pottsville scored the last two baskets of the third and first bucket of the fourth with Carson Palmer’s nailing an open jumper to slash Farmington’s lead to 52-41 with 7:02 to go.

Layne Taylor drove hard to the basket splitting a pair of defenders to convert an old -fashioned 3-point play. The Cardinals got a break at the other end when Pottsville missed two layups. Layne Taylor set up Carbonel with a lob and he drew a foul making both free thows. For his next trick, Layne Taylor pushed the ball up- court after a steal and dished to Carbonel pushing the lead back to 59-41 neutralizing the threat.

Landon Stanley led Pottsville with 13 points and Palmer finished with 11.

With the win Farmington advanced into Sunday’s semifinal against Harrison as all four teams from the 4A-1 defeated their counterparts from the 4A-4 in the first round of the regional.

“I’m just really proud of our guys, really proud of our program to have two years in a row to be back in the state tournament, to be 29-1 and got a chance for us to win 30 games tomorrow which is huge,” Johnny Taylor said.

In his 22 years as a head coach he’s been part of five 30-win seasons, three times at a non- football school where they play more games.

“Only one other time at Rosebud where we went 36-0 so to win 30 games at a place where you start in November that’s a huge accomplishment and you just don’t have that much [opportunities]. As a program and as a coach I’m really proud of our guys for that,” Johnny Taylor said.

FARMINGTON 70, POTTSVILLE 56

Pottsville 10 11 18 17 — 56 Farmington 23 16 13 18 — 70

MARK HUMPHREY ENTERPRISE-LEADER Farmington’s emphasis on defense contesting every pass such as this one with Mateo Carbonel nearly deflecting the ball often leads to steals as it did later in this possession. The Cardinals defeated Pottsville, 70-56, on Saturday to advance into the semifinals and secure a state tournament berth.