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| Zach Speikers team-high 13 points (photo by Jim Lindquist) |
Farmington put together one of its better first half performances of the season to take a 38-28 lead to intermission but went without a field goal for the first 9:15 of the second. The Tigers had just five field goals in the second half.
The post-halftime meltdown looked very much like the opening half of Thursday's 72-65 semifinal win over Burnsville when the Tigers slogged through a sub-par 18 minutes to trail 28-26 at the break.
"We didn't learn anything from yesterday," Tiger coach Shane Wyandt said. "We were not mentally there in the second half.
"When the other team made a push or we didn't get a call, we started turning the ball over or throwing up hurried shots from the outside. We have some guys who have some range but we can't have those 15 and 20 second possessions that end up with bad shots and no rebounding."
Farmington (5-4) dominated most of the first half and led 35-23 on Darren Beenken's three-pointer with two and a half minutes to play. The long ball again helped the Tiger cause as the locals drained four in the opening period.
"When we take our time and run our stuff we get good shots," Wyandt said.
Mahtomedi took the lead at 43-40 and kept it in that range the rest of the way. Farmington cut the deficit to 58-57 on Zach Speikers' three-ball with 51.3 second to go in regulation but could nver regain the lead.
The key to Mahtomedi's comeback came on the offensive glass where 6'4" Zach Lindquist muscled his way to a game-high 24 points.
After hitting 15 of 31 their shots in the first half the Tigers made just five of 19 in the second.
Foul trouble also plagued Farmington as three starters--Alex Chadwick, Eli Rockett and Johnny Dittman--fouled out.
Speikers finished with 13 points to lead the Tiger scoring. Beenken had 11 and also grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds. Rockett scored six points and had 11 rebounds before fouling out.
"We as coaches have to find a way to get these guys playing better basketball," Wyandt said. "We've done it for stretches but not on a consistent basis."
The Tigers have a little less than a week to find that complete game. They open the 2013 portion of their schedule Thursday night with a road game at Section 1 rival Owatonna.
