CENTERTON -- There was no way Boston Barron wanted to give up the ball, even if it meant he had to take the ball three-fourths of the length of the court to do it.
Bentonville West 65, Farmington 36
Farmington (6-7): S. Montez 11, Staten 8, Downs 6, Shelley 4, Valenzula 3, Mayo 2, J. Montez 2.
West (8-1): Hornsby 13, Barron 12, Collier Blackburn 11, H. Swoboda 9, Lee 6, Larsen 4, Bailey 4, Wilmot 2, Conner 2, T. Swoboda 2.
Bentonville West's senior forward picked off a Farmington pass early in the second quarter and went to complete a three-point play that put him in double figures as the Wolverines rolled to a 65-36 victory during nonconference action in Wolverine Arena.
It was the response West coach Greg White wanted to see from his team, which was coming off its first loss of the season Saturday against Conway, thanks to a buzzer-beater.
"The great thing about basketball is not like football, where you have to sit and wait around a week," White said. "A few days, and we jumped back on it. Our kids showed a lot of poise and played well together, and it's fun to watch. They share the ball, they have a lot of energy and trust each other.
"It makes us a very good team right now. We finish up 8-1, and if you told anybody we would be 8-1 in our second year going into Christmas, they would call you a liar."
Farmington (6-7) had taken a 4-3 lead on Xavier Staten's bucket less than 2 minutes into the game, but it only lasted 39 seconds as Barron responded with two free throws. That was the start of nine unanswered Wolverine points, and West went on to make it a 19-5 run, with Hunter Swoboda scoring with 6 seconds remaining.
Barron then sparked a 9-0 West spurt to start the second quarter, and his three-point play gave the Wolverines a 29-9 lead with 6:33 before halftime. West went on to lead 41-19 at halftime, and back-to-back 3-pointers by Bryce Lee to close out the third quarter made it a 57-25 game and forced the running clock.
"After their first loss, we knew we were going to get a pretty good game from them," Farmington coach Beau Thompson said. "We didn't play very well offensively, and I thought we got pushed around a little bit, which is good for us.
"That's the reason we play games like this. We've played a tough schedule, and we've been beat by three good 7A schools that are vastly improved from last year -- Springdale, Heritage and this bunch. We just have a hard time scoring points, and when you do, everything multiplies."
Gabe Hornsby had 13 points to lead West, followed by Barron with 12 -- 11 of those in the first half -- and Collier Blackburn with 11. Skyler Montez was the only Farmington player in double figures with 11.
Girls: Farmington 58, Bentonville West 51
Farmington had its chances to pull away from West, but had to make a few plays in the final two minutes in order to hold off the Lady Wolverines and extend its win streak to seven games.
Farmington 58, Bentonville West 51
Farmington 20 12 14 12 -- 58
West 17 8 11 15 -- 51
Farmington (8-1): Pense 27, Journagan 13, Roach 10, Vanzant 8.
West (6-4): Kash 11, Montgomery 10, Wilson 9, Reid 8, Henry 7, Kultgen 4, Mahone 2.
Makenna Vanzant came up with a key steal and fed Alexis Roach with a pass for a layup with 1 minute, 40 seconds remaining, then the Lady Cardinals (8-1) added key free throws down the stretch.
"I thought when we would get to an edge and I thought we were about to blow it open, they would go down and make a couple of shots," Farmington coach Brad Johnson said. "They are as improved a basketball team as anyone in Northwest Arkansas from where they were last year to where they are now.
"I thought our kids did a phenomenal job of making plays to win the game when we had to. We weren't hitting shots the way we normally do, so we had to find other ways."
Farmington led by as much as 29-17 early in the second quarter and started the fourth quarter with a 46-36 cushion. West (6-4) then whittled that down to a 51-48 margin after an Anna Kash steal and layup with 2:37 remaining and had a chance to get even closer.
Vanzant, however, dove for a steal and pushed the ball ahead to Roach, whose layup made it a 53-48 game with 1:40 left. Farmington then hit five of eight free throws over the final 33.8 seconds to secure the win. Kash had 11 and Imani Montgomery 10 for West.
Preps Basketball on 12/20/2017