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| Darren Beenken 18 points (photo by Jim Lindquist) |
The Sabers and co-champion Holy Angels finished tied atop the final league standings with 11-3 records.
Farmington closed its regular season with an overall mark of 13-13 and finished in a fifth place tie with Chanhassen with a 6-8 conference record.
"This was vintage Shakopee tonight," Farmington coach Shane Wyandt said. "We wanted to keep them out of the paint but their guards shot well in the first half and that opened things up for them inside.
"They are a good basketball team. They'll be the No. 3 seed in one of the toughest 4A sections in the state....I can't be too critical of our guys. They played hard."
Darren Beenken's red-hot shooting kept the visitors in the contest in the first half. The senior captain tallied 13 points, including a trio of three-pointers.
The Sabers led by as many as eight in the opening period before Zach Speikers threw in a long three-pointer at the buzzer to make i a 37-32 game at intermission.
If there were a turning point it came in the opening minutes of the second half. Shakopee made its first six shots, all from point-blank range and pulled away to a 50-39 lead.
The Tigers did answer with a 12-1 run of their own to knot the score at 51-51 on a basket by Mac Bassett with 6:30 to play
"We tried some different things defensively," Wyandt said. "We double-teamed and brought pressure from different places."
Shakopee closed the contest on an 11-2 run, first making five straight free throws and then getting behind a pressing Farmington defense for a couple of a lay-ups.
In addition to the Sabers' dominance in the paint, the Tigers hurt themselves with a sub-par shooting second half, hitting just seven of 25 (28 percent) shots from the field. Shakopee also had a huge 18-5 advantage in points from the free throw line.
Beenken tallied 16 points to top the Farmington scoring charts. Eli Rockett added 10 and pulled down a team-high seven rebounds. Bassett, Nick Varner and Alex Chadwick each finished with eight points.
The Section 1AA post-season tournament seeding takes place Saturday and Wyandt is hoping his team's .500 finish will translate into an opening round home game next Wednesday.
"The records would say we should be the fourth seed and play at home," he said, "but you never know how the voting will go."
