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| Alex Chadwick 12 points (photo by Jim Lindquist) |
The loss was the second straight for the Tigers who dropped to 3-3 overall; Century improved to 2-3.
"We had no energy and showed no toughness getting the ball inside or cutting to the basket," Tiger coach Shane Wyandt said. "They packed it in a zone and we just forced up outside shots all night even though they weren't falling."
Century raced to a 10-0 early lead and although the visitors came back to make it a game they could never quite get over the hump. In the opening half Farmington cut the lead to two or three points several times only to see it bounce back to seven or eight.
Alex Chadwick canned three three-pointers in four possessions midway through the second half to pull his team even but Century countered with a mini-run of its own to take back the momentum.
Wyandt said that a play with a little over two minutes to play in regulation summed up his team's night in Rochester.
"We had cut the lead from 11 to six points and had a breakaway," he said. "We were intentionally fouled so we got two free throws and the ball with a chance to erase almost all of the lead. We ended up with no points."
Farmington shot just 35 percent from the field and an even lower 29 percent (8 for 28) from behind the three-point line. Century, meanwhile shot 48 percent overall and 43 percent from long range. The Panthers aslo made 18 free throws to 10 for the Tigers.
Chadwick finished as the top Tiger scorer with 12 points. Zach Speikers and Darren Beenken each tallied 11 and came up with three steals apiece. Beenken had a team-high eight rebounds and Johnny Dittman chipped in with three assists.
"In the end, they (Century) wanted to win the game and we just showed up expecting to," Wyandt said.
The Tigers get a chance for redemption Friday night when they host St. Paul Harding (3-2) of the St. Paul City Conference at Tiger Gym.
