(photo by Jim Lindquist)
Chaska had its way on the boards and Farmington had no answer for the inside presence of 6-5 sophomore Drew West in a 76-65 Missota Conference loss Tuesday night at Tiger Gym.
West muscled his way inside for a game-high 25 points as the Tigers dropped to 5-10 overall and 2-2 in Missota Conference play.
"We went from our best team rebounding effort of the season at Northfield last Friday to our worst tonight," Tiger coach Shane Wyandt said. "When we don't rebound well as a team we are going to struggle.
"They (Chaska) got so many second chance opportunities and in the second half they started to shoot the ball well. I guess they should have. They had enough practice."
A 9-0 run midway through the first half broke an early 12-12 tie but the Tigers battled back to trail only 33-30 at the halftime break. McKinley Bassett netted 11 of his game total of 14 points in the first half, including a trio of three-pointers.
Nick Varner, Jake Hanson and Tom Sell all picked up three fouls in the half, mostly trying to keep West off the glass. Chaska shot 17 free throws (to Farmington's four)in the first period.
Senior co-captain Jake Hanson scores two
(photo by Jim Lindquist)
Chaska blew the game open early in the second half, scoring the first eight points on the way to a 47-27 lead. From there on, the home team could never cut its deficit below double digits.
Three Tigers scored in double figures in the losing effort. Bassett had 14, Varner 13 and Darren Beenken 11.
Next up for Farmington is a Missota Conference road contest Friday at New Prague.
