Boys basketball: Tigers heat up against park, but cool down at Simley

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Farmington caught fire from three-point range and scored a season-high 79 points in what head coach Shane Wyandt called his team’s “best game of the season” last Tuesday night against Park of Cottage Grove at Tiger Gym.

Two nights later, the Tigers saw their road record fall to 0-4 as an equally-hot Simley team jumped out to a 19-0 advantage in an 87-70 setback.

Simley ended up shooting 75 percent from beyond the three-point arc and 72 percent from the floor in the game. The Tigers missed their first 12 shots and trailed by as many as 31 points before getting back within 13 early in the second half.

“Part of the reason they shot so well was because we let them get some easy looks early by not running the floor and they hit those shots, which gave them early confidence,” Wyandt said. “Later when we started playing harder they were knocking down everything.”

The Tigers (2-6) salvaged a respectable final score by edging the home team 45-41 in the second half.

“I cannot explain the way we have come out on the road. It’s very disappointing,” Wyandt said. “We have not come out ready to compete on the road and let the home team jump us early. When that has happened we looked like we were playing scared.”

Darren Beenken led Farmington with a game-high 24 points and grabbed six rebounds. Nick Varner added 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists and Mackinley Bassett tacked on 12 points.

The Tigers are back in action this week with two games at the Hastings Holiday Tournament.

Farmington 79, Park 45

The Tigers knocked down a season-high nine three-pointers in the first half to build a commanding 47-22 advantage in last Tuesday’s non-conference win over Park of Cottage Grove.

“We played as a team and played well in just about all parts of the game,” Wyandt said. “Regardless of our opponent, if we play the team game we did that night we would be sitting in a much better position right now.”

Eleven players got in the scoring column for the Tigers. Beenken led the way with 18 points, Bassett notched a career-high 17 points and Johnny Dittman established a career-high with 14 points.

The Tigers used their full-court press to force Park into 20 turnovers.

Tags: boys basketball, sports, farmington, tigers, prep