FARMINGTON -- Farmington knew what to do after Prairie Grove jumped to a 9-1 lead Monday.
Give the ball to Matt Wilson.
BOYS
Farmington 62, Prairie Grove 41
Prairie Grove^9^11^7^14^—^41
Farmington^15^13^20^14—^62
Prairie Grove (0-2): Pearson 10, Simmons 7, Cates 5, Pohlman 5, Pridemore 4, Sheperd 3, Davidson 3, Bristow 2, Risner 1, Moore 1.
Farmington (1-0): Wilson 34, Hill 11, Montez 9, Fenton 5, Gray 2, Waggle 1.
GIRLS
Farmington 57, Prairie Grove 50
Prairie Grove^11^14^12^13^—^50
Farmington^12^19^11^15^—^57
Prairie Grove (0-2): Sapp 12, Bartholomew 11, Grant 10, Lopez 8, Doering 3, Madewell 3, Crawford 3.
Farmington (1-0): Vanzant 20, Brown 9, Pense 8, Journagen 6, Wilson 6, Oxford 3, Parsley 2.
Wilson poured in 34 points as Farmington opened the season with a 62-41 victory over the Tigers at the Cardinals gym. Wilson had 34 points, three more than Prairie Grove, when he went to the bench after making a three-point play early in the fourth quarter.
He scored 14 of Farmington's 15 points in the first quarter and had 27 after three quarters when the Cardinals led 48-27. The Cardinals turned almost exclusively to their top scorer in the first half after getting into early foul trouble.
"When we got into deep foul trouble with four starters on the bench, we had only one option and that was to turn him loose," Farmington coach Beau Thompson said. "We'd like to distribute the ball a little more than we did, but when you're strapped in like we were, I turned to coach (Ronnie) Davis and said we're going to let him go."
Much of the Farmington offense will revolve around Wilson, a 6-foot-2 senior guard who signed with Delta State. He'll carry the load after sharing the scoring last season with Matt Thomas, who transferred to Pea Ridge.
But the Cardinals will need offensive support to keep opponents from loading up on Wilson. Senior Conner Hill provided some with 11 points while junior Skylar Montez added nine points in the second half. The Cardinals fed Wilson's hot hand and their work with a zone defense frustrated Prairie Grove for most of the night.
"Cade Fenton will be able to score for us and Skylar Montez and Xavier Staten both scored as sophomores last year," Thompson said. "We think as the season goes on, we'll balance out a little bit."
Derek Pearson scored 10 points to lead Prairie Grove (0-2), which will add at least five players when football season is over for the Tigers.
GIRLS
Farmington 57, Prairie Grove 50
Freshman Makenna Vanzant scored 20 points in her varsity debut to lead Farmington past Prairie Grove.
Cassidi Sapp tied the game 48-48 on a driving layup with 2 minutes, 35 seconds left to play. Farmington then regained the lead for good on a 3-pointer by Madisyn Pense and two free throws for Vanzant, who was 9 of 12 from the line in the second half.
Vanzant had two steals in the final minute after Prairie Grove got to within 53-50 on consecutive free throws from Camree Bartholomew.
Sapp had 12 and Bartholomew 11 to lead the Lady Tigers (0-2).
Sports on 11/29/2016