FARMINGTON -- A night of firsts lined up just right for Farmington boys' basketball Friday.
Playing on the first night at new Cardinal Arena, Farmington picked up its first-ever victory in the 5A-West Conference.
How They Scored
Boys
Farmington 62, Greenbrier 54
Greenbrier^8^18^10^18^—^54
Farmington^12^11^15^24^—^62
Greenbrier (10-7, 1-2): Ballard 15, Webb 14, Tims 10, Ferguson 6, Knopp 5, McNulty 2, Williams 2.
Farmington (10-5, 1-2): Thomas 30, Barnes 11, Wilson 7, Mueller 6, Spears 4, Waggle 4.
How They Scored
Girls
Greenbrier 50, Farmington 47
Greenbrier^19^12^12^7^—^50
Farmington^10^13^15^9^—^47
Greenbrier (13-3, 3-0): Westerman 23, Batterton 10, Freeling 8, Skudlark 6, Shaw 2, Cleveland 1.
Farmington (12-3, 2-1): Tah. Hopkins 14, Tay. Hopkins 10, Duchanois 9, O’Connell 4, Hamley 4, McPherson 4, Smith 2.
But it wasn't easy.
The Cardinals rallied from a four-point deficit in the fourth quarter, then stormed back behind solid defense and a 30-point effort from Matt Thomas in a historic night for the program.
"When we closed our other gym it was probably a bigger atmosphere than this was," Farmington boys coach Beau Thompson said. "So luckily we've been in moments like this. Our guys have played in big games like this before and I knew this game wouldn't be too big for them."
The Cardinals (10-5, 1-2 5A-West) trailed 26-23 at the half and stayed close with Greenbrier before getting strong play from Skylar Barnes and Mac Spears inside the paint to turn the tables late. The Panthers (10-7, 1-2) struggled with their shots in the fourth quarter and never recovered.
"What it came down to is we had a four-point lead in the fourth quarter and we didn't come down and grind out some good possessions," Greenbrier coach Mike Simmons said. "We missed a couple of point-blank lay-ups to keep that lead and then almost everything they got in the fourth quarter was at the free-throw line."
Thomas hit 12 of 14 free throws in the fourth quarter to help seal the win.
"We got about as bad a draw as you could get coming into this league going to Maumelle and Harrison to start off," Thompson said. "We've just been preaching to our kids to keep fighting and to make sure to defend our home court and then maybe try to steal one here and there on the road to maybe get through this conference."
Girls
Greenbrier 50, Farmington 47
The Lady Cardinals credited a tough opponent more than a bout with nerves in a 50-47 loss against Greenbrier in 5A-West Conference action.
"It was a different night but we're not going to put the loss on that," Farmington girls basketball coach Brad Johnson said. "We addressed the situation with our kids a lot and I don't think they were distracted. Maybe we were not mentally focused enough to start the game, but I don't think it had anything to do with the situation of the new (arena)."
Farmington (12-3, 2-1 5A-West) hit just 2 of 10 field goal attempts in the first quarter and fell behind 19-10. The rest of the game was a come-from-behind effort, and that's just what Farmington did, rallying for a pair of brief fourth quarter leads at 45-44 and 47-46.
The final 4 minutes, 26 seconds was a back-and-forth defensive draw, with Greenbrier (13-3, 3-0) regaining the edge at the free throw line. Neither team made a field goal in the final four minutes, but the Lady Panthers pulled ahead for good with a Kory Westerman free throw with 48 seconds left, then added two more free throws for the final margin with 5.6 seconds remaining.
Westerman led Greenbrier with 23 points. Tahlon Hopkins paced Farmington with 14.
Vernon Tarver can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWAVernon
Sports on 01/17/2015