Cardinals Steal Road Win

MARK HUMPHREY ENTERPRISE-LEADER/The referee is right on top of the action signaling who the basketball was last touched by as it goes out-of-bounds during a scramble in a Tuesday, Jan. 29 conference game between Farmington and Pea Ridge. The Cardinals held off the Blackhawks, 46-44, to wrap up the top seed in the 4A-1 West Division and gain a berth into the Regional tournament.
MARK HUMPHREY ENTERPRISE-LEADER/The referee is right on top of the action signaling who the basketball was last touched by as it goes out-of-bounds during a scramble in a Tuesday, Jan. 29 conference game between Farmington and Pea Ridge. The Cardinals held off the Blackhawks, 46-44, to wrap up the top seed in the 4A-1 West Division and gain a berth into the Regional tournament.

PEA RIDGE -- Pea Ridge boys basketball coach Trent Loyd felt the Blackhawks let one get away Tuesday, Jan. 29 in a 46-44 loss to Farmington.

Pea Ridge (18-6, 6-3 4A-1) absorbed its second conference loss of the season to the Cardinals and third overall while Farmington (18-6, 9-0) wrapped up the 4A-1 West Division and a bye into the Regional tournament.

"We didn't play very well tonight. I'm disappointed in our execution and that starts with me. We've got to be better than that," Loyd said. "They were in a little foul trouble. We should have taken advantage of it early in the first half and we didn't. And good teams are doing to do that. Farmington held in there and they hit some shots in the second quarter and then they made the plays down the stretch, but it wasn't because of lack of effort from us. We just got to be a little better on the execution side of things."

Farmington senior Will Pridmore, who came in as the Cardinals' leading scorer and acknowledged floor leader, was saddled with fouls throughout the contest. He fouled out on a charging call while pushing the ball up the floor against pressure with a minute left after scoring 11 points.

Pea Ridge had just cut Farmington's lead to 42-39 on Nick Coble's second chance jumper. Yet, as Loyd alluded, the Blackhawks couldn't capitalize.

Farmington coach Beau Thompson mentioned defense as the first key to winning.

"First game we've played without our closer in the game. You know Pridmore's closed a bunch of close games out for us at the free throw line and handling the ball," Thompson said. "Great team win for us. Danny Valenzuela guards Coble the whole game and I don't know how many points he gets but I don't think he's got double figures. I know he doesn't make a three. Great job defensively, no doubt the best defender in our league."

Coble finished with 4 points.

An offensive foul against Pea Ridge turned the ball over and Farmington made 2-of-4 foul shots stretching the lead to 44-39. Carson Rhine's pullup 3-pointer for Pea Ridge was countered by Tyler Volmer's free throw keeping Farmington ahead 45-42. Noah Peterson drove the length of-the-court and laid the ball in but the Blackhawks were shy a point, 45-44, as Loyd called time-out with 3.9 seconds remaining.

Marquevon Watson made 1-of-2 foul shots and Pea Ridge in-bounded at the far end with 2.2 seconds showing. Rhine launched a 3-point attempt in the backcourt that was well off the mark and Farmington claimed a 46-44 victory.

"For Pridmore to never really be in the game offensively, we feel like we stole the game, but sometimes you got to do that," Thompson said. "It's just a hard-fought, good team win."

Pridmore drew his second foul 14 seconds after making a 3-pointer, his only points of the half, and sat out the last 4:34 of the first quarter and all but 1:09 of the second quarter.

The scenario repeated in the third. Pridmore drained a trey quieting the crowd after Pea Ridge blocked a shot and the rebound was thrown out to Pridmore. Fourteen seconds later he went to the bench with his third foul.

Pridmore helped stave off a 12-3 Pea Ridge run which tied the game at 35-35 on Coble's steal and layup at the 5:57 mark of the fourth. Pridmore scored with the wrong hand on a twisting off-balance driving shot and made 3-of-4 free throws pushing Farmington back out to a five-point, 42-37 advantage.

Watson had one sequence early in the third where he drew fouls against Pea Ridge on three consecutive possessions that helped the Cardinals get into the double bonus and became a factor in the final minutes.

"Marquevon Watson come off the bench to give us great minutes especially defensively. He caused a lot of havoc. (Austin) Shelley played well in the second half. He didn't score much, but he was a factor on the other end of the floor. He had a lot of deflections, lot of tips and some big rebounds. This game was played way up around the rim and we needed him to play big," Thompson said.

"Marquevon is very explosive. Jalen Montez is very fast and Jalen Montez gets in foul trouble. Montez gets his third foul in the second quarter and when we sub in, we don't get any slower. Marquevon Watson can be even more explosive at times and he kind of kept us in the game in the second quarter and allowed us to sit Pridmore a lot."

With the win Farmington remains alone atop the 4A-1 boys basketball standings while Pea Ridge dropped into fourth overall and second among the West Division.

Will Feemster scored 15 points to lead Pea Ridge.

"We just got to be a little more detailed. We're not being detailed enough. We're not taking care of the basketball like we need to be," Loyd said. "We need to find a way to recover and bounce back and when we do hopefully we'll be playing our best basketball in the district tournament."

Farmington 46, Pea Ridge 44

FARMINGTON 46, PEA RIDGE 44

Farmington^8^12^15^11^--^46

Pea Ridge^13^10^7^14^--^44

Farmington (18-6, 9-0): Will Pridmore 3 3-5 11, Jayden Whitmore 2 1-2 7, Marquevon Watson 0 7-10 7, Jalen Montez 2 0-1 5, Tony Mayo 1 1-2 4, Austin Shelley 0 4-4 4, Danny Valenzuela 1 2-6 4, Tyler Vollmer 1 2-4 4. Totals 10 20-34 46.

Pea Ridge (18-6, 6-3): Will Feemster 5 3-3 15, Carson Rhine 3 1-4 8, Landon Allison 3 0-0 7, Noah Peterson 2 2-2 7, Nick Coble 2 0-0 4, Alex Wilkerson 1 0-0 2, Wes Wales 0 1-2 1. Totals 16 7-11 44.

3-Point Goals -- Farmington 6 (Pridmore 2, Whitmore 2, Montez, Mayo), Pea Ridge 5 (Feemster 2, Allison, Peterson, Rhine).

Gravette 55, Farmington 44

Gravette spoiled Colors Day on Friday by handing Farmington its first conference loss of the season, 55-44, at Cardinal Arena. The Lions were led by Colby McCarthey and Brayden Trembly with 14 points apiece. Pridmore scored 16 and Tony Mayo added 10 for Farmington.

Gravette^9^13^18^15^--^55

Farmington^8^11^10^15^--^44

Gravette (11-12, 3-7): Colby McCarthy 14, Brayden Trembly 14, Tristan Batie 8, Carver 8, Johnny Dunfee 4, Issac Griffith 3, Chace Austin 2, Cy Hilger 2.

Farmington (17-7, 9-1): Will Pridmore 16, Tony Mayo 10, Austin Shelley 9, Marguevon Watson 4, Tyler Vollmer 3, Danny Valenzuela 2.

Sports on 02/06/2019