FARMINGTON -- Skyler Montez has done his part to show Farmington boys basketball is not just a one-man offensive show.
While senior Matt Wilson draws much of the attention from Cardinals' opponents, Montez has been a big beneficiary with foes so worried about slowing Wilson down. Montez, a 6-foot-1 junior forward, averages 8.9 points and 3.2 rebounds this season. But those scoring numbers have doubled in recent weeks as Wilson has seen more double teams since breaking his own school scoring record on multiple occasions this season.
Profile
Skyler Montez
SCHOOL Farmington
CLASS Junior
HEIGHT 6-1
WEIGHT 180
POSITION Forward
NOTABLE Averaging 8.9 points and 3.2 rebounds per game but has doubled his scoring averaged over the last few weeks. … Suffered a dislocated kneecap at the end of last basketball season, but returned in time for football.
"I always thought if I got the shot I could help the team produce offensively," Montez said. "When we've got one of the best players in Arkansas dropping 40 points, 30 points and even 50 points a game teams are going to start throwing two bodies at him. And when they do that they're going to leave open gaps and I just attack those gaps and right now my shots have been falling and I trust my ability to shoot.
"My teammates are great, they've been feeding me the ball and my shots have just been falling."
Montez suffered a dislocated kneecap at the end of his sophomore basketball season. The rehab and return from the injury actually affected his junior football season more than this basketball season, but Montez still needed some time this year to break loose and show he could be Farmington's second major scoring threat when needed.
"These past four or five games he's really come about offensively," Farmington coach Beau Thompson said. "He's a good athlete, he can score at the rim and he shoots good enough where they have to honor him at the arc.
"We end up playing four on three most of the time when they send two defenders on Wilson, and Montez is the X-factor in that. We work on it every day in practice and he can take the ball either way and he's the one that can really make teams pay."
While Montez has emerged lately on the offensive end, even showing up in the Cardinals' scorebook as the leading scorer over Wilson, he always knew the ability was there.
"I always thought I had it in me," Montez said. "I always thought I could do it, I was just waiting on my shot and when they started throwing two bodies at Wilson, I got to shoot the ball a little more and my shots just kept falling. And hopefully they keep falling."
Farmington (16-6) is a fun team to watch when Wilson breaks loose for 50 or more points in a game. But the Cardinals know it will take more than Wilson offensively to have success down the stretch and in the postseason.
This is where Montez comes into play, and so far he's shown he's up to the challenge to provide a lift.
"It makes us more complete," Thompson said. "It makes the other team have to play us more honest and I think they're going to continue to try to take it out of Matt's hands. And if we'll focus on taking the easy things, which is what Montez does, then we feel we can beat just about anybody."
Sports on 02/09/2017