13 points in season opener
Coach Shane Wyandt wasn't quite sure what to expect from his young and inexperienced team in its season opener at Rochester John Marshall Friday night but he said he definitely didn't anticipate what he got.
Namely, a turnover-fest punctuated by poor shooting in a 59-35 loss.
"We may have set a school record for turnovers," Wyandt said. "The sad part about it was that we forced them into 40 of them and we still had more. It was an ugly, sloppy game on the part of both teams."
Despite the turnovers, the visitors stayed in the game for the first half, trailing only 30-23 at intermission before managing just 12 points after the break.
"We need to be a running team and force the other team into errors," Wyandt said, "but it seemed every time we turned them over we came right back and returned the favor."
The shooting numbers were as low as the turnover count was high. Farmington shot just 29 percent from the field (10 for 34); 13 percent (2 for 16) from three-point range and 47 percent (9 of 19) from the free throw line.
Sophomore center Nick Varner scored a team-high 13 points and junior forward Darren Beenken added seven to combine for all but 15 of Farmington's point total.
Wyandt said that he told the Tigers to regard the lackluster performance in the opener as a learning experience and to take heart in their solid play against a couple of ranked teams in pre-season scrimmages.
"We have to strive for consistency and that will take some time to develop with such a young team," he said.
The Tigers return to action Tuesday, Dec. 6, when they entertain Rochester Century, a pre-season co-favorite (with Lakeville North) in Section 1AAAAA.
"They're loaded," Wyandt said. "That will be a real test for us."
