3 first-half 3-pointers
(photo by Jim Lindquist)
There wasn't much to cheer about for the Tigers in a 50-30 Missota Conference loss to New Prague Friday night, Jan. 28, at Tiger Gym.
Turnovers, poor shooting and an inability to run its half-court offense combined to dig the locals a Grand Canyon-sized first half hole from which they could never recover.
"You can talk about defense and hustle and a lot of other things that are important in basketball," Tiger coach Shane Wyandt said. "But in the end, if you don't put the ball in the basket it generally isn't going to matter.
"The last two games we have been unable to run our offense and we've committed too many turnovers. "We're just not good enough to do that and win. Not many teams are."
The first half stat sheet told the tale. The Tigers made just five of 19 field goal tries (26 percent) and two of six (33 percent) from the free throw line over the first 18 minutes.
Add to the mix 14 turnovers, most of them in the half-court, and the fact that leading scorer Alex Michels (16.3 points a game) was held scoreless by a relentless Trojan defense and the final result was a 33-15 Trojan lead.
Farmington played outstanding defense in second half, holding New Prague to just four field goals and 17 points, but the offense never came around.
"When we did manage to run our offense and get the shot we wanted, we missed it," Wyandt said.
Farmington made just six of 17 shots after intermission and could never cut its deficit to fewer than 16 points.
Austin Bassett led the Tigers in scoring with nine points on three first-half three-pointers. Michels tallied six, all in the second half.
The Tigers hope to regain their shooting touch by next Tuesday when they travel to Chanhassen for a Missota Conference match-up with the Storm.
