PRAIRIE GROVE -- Farmington jumped out to a 16-0 first quarter lead and never looked back even without top scorer Layne Taylor, who sustained an ankle sprain while hitting a 3-pointer.
Layne Taylor exited with 2:10 left in the first quarter and the Cardinals (15-1, 2-0 4A-1) leading 12-0. He did not return and finished with six points well below his average but his teammates more than picked up the slack. Caleb Blakely had 15 points and seven rebounds. Mateo Carbonel added 11 points and 12 rebounds, and Logan Burch had nine points and four rebounds as Farmington went on to secure a 56-32 rivalry win at Prairie Grove's Tiger Arena on Tuesday, Jan. 4.
Farmington coach Johnny Taylor felt the Cardinals controlled the tempo and slowed the game down to their advantage.
"We say all the time we got to be able to win at two speeds. We got to be able to play fast or we got to be able to slow the game down and control it. Our kids are bought into whatever we need to do," Johnny Taylor said.
Nathan Monroe (6 assists, 4 rebounds) and Maddox Mahan scored the next four points for Farmington. Prairie Grove (4-9, 0-2) had a chance on an in-bounds play from the side with 4.6 seconds to go in the first but junior center Ryder Orr long 3-point try was off-balance and short leaving the Tigers with a goose egg on the scoreboard for the first quarter.
Tate Benoit broke the ice with nearly a minute gone in the second when he got open underneath in the half-court offense and his teammates found him but Farmington upped its lead to 20. Logan Burch drained a 3-pointer. Sam Wells stole the ball down-court and wasted no time in throwing an outlet which led to Carbonel's layup, making it 25-4.
Orr scored five points in the last 3:22, helping Prairie Grove whittle its deficit down to 18. Farmington got the last basket of the half from Carbonel and led 29-11 at halftime.
The teams traded baskets in the third until the Tigers got two unanswered scores in the final 1:13 of the period. Orr sank a pair of foul shots and backed his way in to set up a bank shot.
Farmington led 37-23 after three quarters of play and sealed its rivalry win by forging a 17-5 run to close out the final 5:47 of the contest. Burch kick-started the spurt with a trey from the corner. Mahan cruised for a left-handed layup off a steal.
Eric Henderson pulled up and sank a trifecta for Prairie Grove and later drove for a layup but nobody else was scoring for Prairie Grove.
Blakely scored driving the lane and Wells hit free throws. Carbonel chipped in three points. Carson Dearing started a Farmington fast break with a defensive rebound and outlet to Monroe, who spotted Wells flying downcourt. He was fouled and added a free throw to the layup. Blakely concluded the scoring at the free-throw line, making the final 56-32.
Farmington 56, Prairie Grove 32
Farmington^16^13^8^19^--^56
Prairie Grove^0^11^12^9^--^32
Prairie Grove (4-9, 0-2): Ryder Orr 3 5-7 13, Eric Henderson 3 2-2 10, Cole Edmiston 1 4-4 6, Conner Hubbs 1 0-0 2, Tate Benoit 1 0-0 2, Cole Cash 0 1-2 1, Landon Semrad 0 0-2 0. Totals 9 12-17 32.
Farmington (15-1, 2-0): Caleb Blakely 6 3-4 15, Mateo Carbonel 5 1-2 11, Logan Burch 3 0-0 9, Layne Taylor 2 0-0 6, Maddox Mahan 3 0-0 6, Sam Wells 1 3-3 5, Nathan Monroe 1 2-3 4, Carson Dearing 0 0-2 0. Totals 21 9-14 56.
3-Point Goals -- Prairie Grove 2 (Henderson 2). Farmington 5 (Burch 3, Layne Taylor 2).
Rebounds -- Farmington 34 (Carbonel 12), Prairie Grove 27. Assists -- Farmington 15 (Monroe 6), Prairie Grove 3. Steals -- Farmington 12 (Wells 4), Prairie Grove 8. Blocks -- Farmington 2, Prairie Grove 1.