Career-high 19 points vs. North St. Paul
(photo by Jim Lindquist)
The Tigers kicked off a busy, three-game road week with a 64-60 win Tuesday night, Jan. 4, at North St. Paul. The non-conference victory evened Farmignton's season record at 4-4.
The Tigers played without the services of senior guard Elliot Fenske who is out for the remainder of the year with a torn ACL in his knee.
"I was impressed with how our guys stepped up with Elliot out," coach Shane Wyandt said. "It was a nice win for us, especially for the guys who were around last year when we lost a tough one to North St. Paul at our place."
In the early going the Tigers looked looked like they would have an easy time of it, jumping to a 12-0 lead in the first seven minutes.
But the Polars whittled away at their deficit and tied the count at 29-29 with a basket at the halftime buzzer.
"They started handling our pressure a lot better as the game wore on," Wyandt, "and we got ourselves in some foul trouble. We knew it was going to come down to playing well down the stretch."
With 3:30 remaining in the game, the Polars had come all the way back to build 57-52 lead.
But Sebren Baer hit a big three and Alex Michels followed with a basket to forge a tie. Then Austin Bassett drilled a trey to give the visitors back the lead for good. Darren Beenken's four clutch free throws in the closing minute sealed the deal.
Beeneken put together what Wyandt called the most complete game of his young career, finishing with a team-high 19 points. Baer nailed five three-pointers and finished with a career-high 17. Michels, the team's leading scorer all season, chipped in with nine.
"It was pretty obvious from the start their game plan was to stop Al," Wyandt said. "They played a lot of zone and had two guys on him most of the time. That's why it was so good to see Darren and Seb step up the way they did."
The trip to North St. Paul was the first of three metropolitan area adventures for the Tigers this week. Thursday, they visit St. Paul Harding before heading to Spring Lake Park for a matinee game on Saturday.
