Farmington Moves Into First-Place Tie

MARK HUMPHREY STAFF PHOTO

Farmington point guard, Jeremy Mueller reacts to a pass going to the wing. Mueller scored Farmington's final 8 points all on free throws to lead the Cardinals past Pea Ridge, 45-39, on Tuesday.
MARK HUMPHREY STAFF PHOTO Farmington point guard, Jeremy Mueller reacts to a pass going to the wing. Mueller scored Farmington's final 8 points all on free throws to lead the Cardinals past Pea Ridge, 45-39, on Tuesday.

— Pea Ridge has some company atop the boys 4A-1 Conference standings.

That team is Farmington, which moved into a first-place tie in the league with a 45-39 victory over the Blackhawks Tuesday at Myrl Massie Gymnasium. Center Chase Garner led Farmington with 13 points and senior guard Josh Mueller added 11, including eight consecutive free throws in the fourth quarter to keep the Cardinals ahead.

Mueller, who also made a big 3-pointer in the third quarter, has made 20 consecutive free throws over his last two games. Garner put Farmington (14-4, 6-1) ahead with an inside basket before Mueller went 8-for-8 from the line in the final 58 seconds to secure the victory.

“Josh is a strong, stocky kid for a guard and it’s hard to get the ball from him,” Farmington coach Beau Thompson said. “Our kids know their roles very well and we did a good job of getting him the basketball at the end of the game.”

Pea Ridge (15-4, 6-1) stayed close despite losing top scorer Levi Pitts to an apparent ankle injury with 7 minutes and 20 seconds left in the game.

Farmington 45, Pea Ridge 39

Pea Ridge 12 5 8 14 — 39

Farmington 9 10 10 16 — 45

PEA RIDGE (15-4, 6-1): Tillman 5, DeLeon 7, Pitts 7, Mangrum 6, Hall 8, Davis 6.

FARMINGTON (14-4, 6-1): Mueller 11, Brackett 9, Garner 13, Dellett 10, Stevens 2.

Sophomore Zach Davis provided a boost with consecutive 3-pointers from the corner to tie the game 31-31 with 5:41 left. Jacob Hall tied the game again at 35-35 before Garner put Farmington ahead for good after a feed from Matt Brackett, who added nine points.

“This was another competitive game, which is what you expect when Farmington and Pea Ridge get together,” Pea Ridge coach Charley Clark said. “Fans probably enjoyed it. We didn’t like the way the game turned out, but we got a lot of lessons we can learn from it.”

Hall finished with eight points to lead Pea Ridge, which twice fell behind by six points early in the fourth quarter.

Farmington led 19-17 at halftime behind Garner, who had nine points. Brackett got Farmington going with a rebound basket after the Cardinals missed four times inside on possession. Garner, a 6-foot-2 senior, then made consecutive moves inside for easy scores to give Farmington a 17-14 lead.

Nick DeLeon tied the game for Pea Ridge with a 3-point basket before Alex Dellett put Farmington ahead again with two free throws to end the first half.

GIRLS

FARMINGTON 56, PEA RIDGE 24

Farmington took advantage of a long scoring drought by Pea Ridge to post a easy victory over the Lady Blackhawks.

Farmington 56, Pea Ridge 24

Pea Ridge 8 3 8 5 — 24

Farmington 12 14 16 14 — 56

PEA RIDGE (3-15, 0-7): Cypert 6, Schooley 4, Cochran 4, Caton 2, Winn 8.

FARMINGTON: (15-4, 6-1): Rhame 20, Maxwell 10, Scheyder 6, Scales 2, Duchanois 4, Blackburn 6, Sigmon 4, McPherson 4.

Pea Ridge did not make a field goal in the second quarter and managed only two field goals in the third when the Lady Blackhawks fell behind 44-19. Farmington (15-4, 6-1) dominated play after Pea Ridge (3-15, 0-7) got to within 12-10 early in the second quarter.

Tiffany Rhame scored 20 points and Haley Maxwell 10 for Farmington, which was coming off a 56-44 defeat to rival Prairie Grove.

“It was huge for us to come out and play well,” Farmington coach Brad Johnson said. “Losing at Prairie Grove was our first conference loss but our goals are still the same. We wanted to play the game within the game and I thought we did a good job of that with blocking out, rebounding, and keying our transition.”

Taylor Winn finished with eight points for Pea Ridge, which failed to score more than eight points in any quarter. Pea Ridge received two technical fouls in the game and the Lady Blackhawks’ Mikhaela Cochran was ejected after punching an opponent with 5:09 left to play.

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