2013-14 Tiger Basketball Awards

Tiger boys basketball coach Shane Wyandt and his staff presented several individual awards at the team's post-season banquet held Wednesday night.

The 2013-14 finished the season with a 19-8 overall record, the second most wins in a season in the program's history.

(All photos by Jim Lindquist)

Eli Rockett: Co-MVP, All-Missota Conference

Zach Speikers: Co-MVP, All-Missota Conference

Nick Varner: All-conference honorable mention, Tiger Award

Jordan DeCroock: Mr. Hustle

Tiger BB season second to one

Not all of the pre-season goals were achieved but the Tigers' 2013-14 season was still a major success. As a matter of fact, Farmington's 19-8 season record was the second best mark in school history. The 2008-09 team owns the best all-time record at 20-8.

The Tigers finished 8-5 in the Missota Conference, good enough for fourth place in the final league standings.

"I would have liked to have done a little better in the conference and we would have liked to have another shot at Lakeville North in the section championship game," coach Shane Wyandt said.

Wyandt said several games stood out as especially memorable over the past seasons. On the plus side, five victories stood out.

"We beat John Marshall at their place early in the season and then in our second conference game we came from 20 down to beat Red Wing in one of the best comebacks in my tenure here," he said.

"We also had a 'revenge' win at home against Chaska who had taken it to us pretty good at their place...We were hitting on all cylinders in our home win against Holy Angels and we had a great game against Northfield in the first round of the section. Were were playing without Zach Speikers and I really liked how our kids responded."

On the flip side were a handful of games for which Wyandt said he would like to have a do-over.

"We lost a really tough game (104-99 in overtime) early in the season to Lakeville North where we were ahead most of the game," Wyandt said. "We had some guys foul out late in a game where I thought we outplayed a very good team."

Wyandt listed three other times during the season where his team failed to play up to its potential.

"At the Hastings tournament we came out flat against Burnsville and learned a tough lesson," he said. "We thought we had what it took to win that tournament his year....We also didn't play very well in back-to-back losses to conference champion Shakopee and then in the section semifinals, we let a slow start beat us against John Marshall."

Seventeen Tigers eared varsity letters this season, including six seniors: Eli Rockett, Nick Varner, Mac Bassett, Johnny Dittman, Jordan DeCroock and Tyler VanWinkle.

"This was a great group of seniors who were kind of thrown to the wolves early in their careers," Wyandt said. "We needed to rush their development in order to compete and because of that they took a few lumps along the way. But they improved every year and regardless of some setbacks had a great senior season. They should be extremely proud. They will be missed."

Zach Speikers averaged 19 points a game (photo by J. Lindquist)

Underclassmen letterwinners included juniors Zach Speikers, Wyatt Ferm, Matt Anderson, Jackson Halstrom, Andrew Larson, Joe Wilson, JT Harstad and Kevin Robertson and sophomores Alex Hart, Alex Zitzmann and Jacob Laube.

"We also had a solid 10th grade group with some players who will certainly be in the mix and push for spots next season," Wyandt said.

All-Missota Conference awards as well as other team honors will be announced at the post-season awards banquet scheduled for April 9.

While acknowledging the loss a strong senior class, Wyandt expects his program to field another solid team next winter even with the move up to membership in the rugged South Suburban Conference.

 "The Missota was as good top to bottom as any other in the state this year," he said. "It has been a great basketball league for a long time. I would argue that with anyone, but now we go to a league that is like that every year and with us and Shakopee it gets even better.  

"We will put the work in and it should be some exciting basketball to watch in the future. My hope is that our youth players will be playing against the same top-level competition and out-working them on the way up."

Boys B-Ball: Slow start ends Tiger season

Eli Rockett 23 points, six rebounds (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Second-seeded Farmington stumbled out of the gate and the poor start eventually brought an end to its otherwise successful season in a 77-68 loss to third-seed Rochester John Marshall in Saturday night's Section 1AAAA semifinal at Tiger Gym.

The Tigers shot the ball as poorly as they have all season and seemed to play tentatively as the Rockets burst to a 19-5 lead over the game's first eight minutes.

"I wouldn't call it playing scared," Tiger coach Shane Wyandt said, "but we seemed nervous from the start and made some uncharacteristic, poor decisions. The effort was there, but we just played tight."

The Tigers battled back to cut the deficit to 29-22 on a pair of free throws by Wyatt Ferm but the Rockets extended their lead back to double digits by halftime at 36-26.

The shooting numbers told the story as the Tigers made but six of 23 tries (26 percent) from the field in the first period. They stayed as close as they did by converting 13 of 18 free throw opportunities. 

Mac Bassett and Eli Rockett sparked a mini-run early in the second half but each time it looked like the Tigers were getting back in the game, the visitors had an answer. The Rockets drained five three-pointers in the first six minutes of the half to keep the home team at bay.

"We kept battling but they (JM) kept coming up with the big shot when they needed it," Wyandt said. "The bottom line is that you can't spot a good team like John Marshall a big lead like that and expect to win."

The Rocket lead swelled to 17 points before the Tigers began to chip away at it. The visitors sewed up their trip to the finals at the foul line where they made 10 of 12 tries down the stretch. Ferm's three-pointer in the closing seconds finally reduced the final deficit below double figures.

Wyatt Ferm 16 points, 4 assists

The Tigers played their second straight game without junior guard Zach Speikers (torn ACL) and his 19.1 points per game.

"Zach gives us a different dimension," Wyandt said, "and we missed him being out there. That being said, when we beat them (JM) at their place, we had good scoring balance and tonight we didn't have that."

Senior Rockett put together a solid final game for the Tigers, scoring 23 points and pulling down a team-high six rebounds. Ferm finished with 16 points, four assists and three steals.

Senior Nick Varner chipped in with eight points, six rebounds and three assists. Jordan DeCroock scored eight points and Bassett added six in their final game in a Tiger uniform.
  
Farmington finished the 2013-14 season with an overall record of 19-8, the second highest win total in school history.

"We didn't meet all of our goals, but it was still a good season" Wyandt said. "We wanted to be playing Lakeville North next week in that section championship game."

Third time no charm for Raiders; Tigers to semis

Mac Bassett 17 points, 4 steals (photo by J. Lindquist)

An old sports adage says that beating a team for a third time in the same season is often a tough task.

Farmington paid no heed to that school of thought in its Section 1AAAA quarterfinal match-up with Missota Conference rival Northfield Thursday night at Tiger Gym, routing the Raiders 66-47.

The Tigers had beaten their neighbors to the south by three and 20 points in their two meetings during the regular season.

With the opening round win the second-seeded Tigers raised their season record to 19-7 and landed a spot in Saturday's semifinals against third-seeded Rochester John Marshall at Tiger Gym

The victory was especially satisfying for two reasons: 1) It came despite the absence of leading scorer Zach Speikers (19.1 points per game) who tore his ACL in the regular season finale and 2) The so called "home court" advantage was mostly negated by the large Farmington contingent attending the boys' hockey section championship game being played at the same time in Rochester.

None of those things seemed to influence the Tigers play, however. A hawking defense, control of the glass and most of all, the ability to knock down shots produced a 39-17 halftime lead.
 
The contest was tight early with the Tigers clinging to a 12-11 lead before an 18-0 run by the home team put it up by 19 points. Farmington shot a white-hot 14 of 19 (74 percent) from the field over the first 18 minutes.

"I thought it was a true team effort on both ends of the floor," coach Shane Wyandt said. "We traded some baskets early but I don't think it was really due to poor defense.

"As they started missing some shots, we did a nice job of rebounding and getting out into transition.  We played eight deep and were pretty steady for most of the half."

The lead swelled to 25 points after the halftime break before the Raiders battled back to at one time cut the margin to 15.

Tyler VanWinkle pulled down a team-high six rebounds (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Farmington finished with a dominant advantage on the boards, out-rebounding the Raiders 27-15.

With Speikers out, the Tigers spread the scoring load around with four players finishing in double figures. Mac Bassett led the way with 17. Johnny Dittman had 12, Wyatt Ferm 11 and Eli Rockett 10.

Nick Varner chipped in with six points, six assists, five rebounds and four blocks. Tyler VanWinkle scored just one point but contributed a team-high six rebounds, two steals, two blocks and a pair of assists.

"We feel we have a solid group even without Zach," Wyandt said.  "We cannot replace him with one guy but some of our bench guys are very capable of stepping up and handling a little more of the load.

"Tyler (VanWinkle) did a nice job on defense and helped out on the glass. That is what we really need from him. He's a guy that we need to be steady and win some hustle points. That's very important for us."

The Tigers downed John Marshall 79-69 when the teams met in Rochester in the third game the season but the Rockets have been playing well of late. They finished the regular season 19-6 and routed Hastings 75-53 in their section opener.

"We had nice offensive balance and a solid defensive effort at their place." Wyandt said. "You could really see our kids buckle down each defensive possession.  It's that effort and attitude on defense and soild executuion on offense which will make us successful."

Tip-off for the semifinal match-up is 7:00 Saturday night at Tiger Gym.

Boys B-Ball: Tigers No. 2 in Section 1AAAA

Farmington earned the No. 2 seed for the upcoming Section 1AAAA tournament and will open post-season play Wednesday night at Tiger Gym against No. 7 Northfield.

A win against the Raiders would mean another home game on Saturday night against the winner of the opening round contest between No. 3 Rochester John Marshall and  No. 6 Hastings.

Other first round match-ups include top-seeded Lakeville North vs. No. 8 Hastings and No. 4 Rochester Century vs. No. 5 Owatonna.

The finals will be played Friday, March 7, at the Rochester Civic Center.

Boys B-Ball: A balanced approach

Johnny Dittman scored a team-high 18 points (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Four players scored in double figures as the Tigers won their third straight in convincing fashion, a 74-54 victory over Northfield Tuesday night in Northfield.

Tiger coach Shane Wyandt was pleased with his team's effort in the rematch with the Raiders that went much differently than when the two teams met in December at Tiger Gym. In that one Farmington had to overcome a double digit halftime deficit to pull out a 64-61 win.

"A really well-played game for the most part by our guys," Wyandt said. "We came out strong and really continued that solid effort the whole way on both ends of the floor.

"I really liked our defensive effort most of the night. Some early trouble forced us to change our defensive game plan a bit but I thought the kids adjusted nicely and made a positive out of it."

A strong first half defensive stand gave the visitors a 30-18 lead at intermission, a lead they would continue to stretch throughout the second half.

Wyandt has stressed all season that his team is at it best when is shares the ball and the scoring load. Tuesday's win could serve as Exhibit A for that position.

All an all, 10 different Farmington players found their way into the scoring column with Johnny Dittman leading the scoring parade with 18 points, including a pair of three-pointers.

Eli Rockett finished with 10 points and four rebounds (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Leading scorer Zach Speikers and Wyatt Ferm each had a pair of three's and finished with 14  points apiece. Eli Rockett, forced to log extra minutes inside due to Nick Varner's illness and early foul trouble, finished with 10 points.

"Eli put forth a really good effort tonight," Wyandt said.

Mac Bassett scored six points and was a force on the boards, pulling down a team-high seven rebounds.

The only down side of the night came in the injury department where Speikers suffered an undetermined knee injury in the second half and top reserve Jordan DeCroock left the floor after getting kicked in the head in a battle for a loose ball.

"We're hoping Zach's injury isn't anything structural," Wyandt said. "Jordan tested out OK on the bench so he should be fine."

Farmington, 18-7 overall and 8-5 in the conference, will shoot for its fourth in a row Friday night when it entertains Chanhassen in the regular season finale. The Section 1AAAA post-season tournament begins next week.

Boys B-Ball: Speikers paces Tigers past Stars

Zach Speikers scored 37 points against the Stars (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Zach Speikers came within a point of a career-high with a 37 point effort to lead the Tigers to an 84-66 Missota Conference victory over Holy Angels Friday night at Tiger Gym.

The win was the second straight for Farmington and boosted its record to 17-7 overall and 7-5 in Missota Conference play.

The contest was in stark contrast to the teams' earlier meeting when the Tigers needed a three-pointer at the buzzer by Johnny Dittman to pull out a 60-59 win in a low-scoring battle.

The rematch was much more to the Tigers' liking, a fast-paced affair that allowed the winners to get the ball out in the open court.

The game was close early on before Speikers, who missed the first Holy Angels game with an ankle injury, started taking the ball to the basket and either getting baskets or free throw opportunities.

By halftime the home team was sitting on a 45-30 lead and playing as well as it had in recent weeks.

Mac Bassett 11 points and a solid floor game (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Farmington continued to build its lead after intermission, continuing to distribute the basketball while playing solid defense and owning the backboards. The Tigers finished with a commanding 27-19 advantage on the glass.

Speikers came within a point of matching his 38 scored against Hastings over the holidays. Included in the numbers were 11 field goals, including a pair of three-pointers, and 13 free throws. The junior guard also chimed in with six rebounds and a team-high four assists.

Eli Rockett had another solid game inside, finishing with 16 points and a team-best seven rebounds. Mac Bassett added 11 points to go with a solid floor game and some strong defensive play. Dittman finished with nine points and a couple of steals.

The Tigers will hope to build some more momentum toward the post-season when they travel to Northfield Tuesday night to take on the Raiders. They close out the regular season next Friday with a home game with Chanhassen before opening section play the following week.

Boys B-Ball: Sweet No. 16

Eli Rockett scores two of his game-high 22 points vs. New Prague (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Farmington pushed its season win total to 16, two more than all of last season, with a 65-57 triumph over New Prague Tuesday night at Tiger Gym. The Tigers are 16-7 overall and 6-5 in Missota Conference play.

"We did some good things when we made good decisions and took care of the basketball," Farmington coach Shane Wyandt.

"We knew New Prague wanted to slow things down and use their size but when we took our time and attacked their zone, we got easy baskets. When we didn't, we made poor decisions and turned the ball over too much."

The Tigers scored the first six points of the game, all on lay-ups, and looked to be on the way to a  night similar to their 77-61 win at New Prague earlier in the season.

The pesky Trojans, however, stuck around thanks to some easy baskets of their own and a rash of Farmington turnovers. Johnny Dittman's three-pointer with the clocking winding down gave Farmington a 32-22 halftime lead.

"In the game at their place we shot the lights out from outside," Wyandt said. "Tonight we weren't getting a lot of good outside looks. Fortunately, we made it up with some good play inside."

Zach Speikers 9 points (photo by J. Lindquist)

At times the Trojans played a front line that measured 6-10, 6-9 and 6-6 but for the most part the home team held its own on the boards.

New Prague pulled to within 47-40 with six minutes to play in the second half before a three-pointer by Mac Bassett and five straight points from Eli Rockett built the lead back to double digits.

Rockett finished with 22 points to lead an eight-man Farmington scoring contingent. Bassett and Zach Speikers had nine apiece and Jordan DeCroock and Nick Varner each chipped in with six.

"We still have a long way to go as far as smart decision-making goes," Wyandt said. "We're getting close to the post-season and we need to eliminate some of our carelessness with the basketball. That and playing at a higher energy level are two things we will be working on the rest of the way."

The Tigers will try to make it two straight conference wins Friday night when they host Holy Angels at Tiger Gym. Tip-off is slated for 7:30.

Boys B-Ball: Wingers win a wild one

Nick Varner 13 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists (photo by Jim Lindquist)

When Farmington hosted Red Wing last month, the Tigers rallied from a double-digit second half deficit to beat the Wingers 69-64.

In the rematch at Red Wing Friday the visitors again trailed by a dozen in the second period but this time a big closing rally wasn't quite enough in a 72-71 Missota Conference loss.

The Wingers led by only four points at the halftime break before stretching their cushion to 12 on some hot shooting and sub-par defense by the Tigers.

"We played a stretch where we just couldn't get much going on offense and our defense just went to sleep," Tiger coach Shane Wyandt said. "That was disappointing.

"We played very little defense for about four minutes and allowed them to get hot. They shot the ball ridiculously well from three and as a result and we dug ourselves a huge hole."

Farmington kept scrapping, however, and eventually re-took the lead 71-70 on a Zach Speikers jumper with a minute and a half to play in regulation. But on the next possession, Red Wing's Isaac Toivonen got behind the the Tigers defense for what would prove to be the winning basket.

The Tigers got a nice look on the return trip up the court but Nick Varner's contested shot from close range rolled off the rim.

Red Wing opened the door twice more before the final horn on a turnover and a missed free throw, but another missed jumper and a desperation heave by Speikers as time expired sealed the deal.

Johnny Dittman, three 3-pointers, 3 rebounds, 2 assists (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Farmington featured a balanced scoring attack with four players in double figures. Eli Rockett netted 17, Speikers 16, Varner 13 and Mac Bassett 12. Johnny Dittman added nine on a trio of three-pointers.

Red Wing also had four players score in double digits, led by Toivonen's game-high 24 points.

The Wingers led in in rebounds (23-21), three-point baskets (10-8) and points at the free throw line (16-7).

Rockett was the Tiger team leader in rebounds with six. Varner had four and also dished out four assists.

"The bottom line is it was a really well-played game by Red Wing with a really gritty come back by our boys," Wyandt said. 

"However, those little things need to be figured out moving forward if we want to achieve our goals.  I think we are getting closer so we need a 'do whatever it takes type effort and attitude' from here on out."

 Here on out starts next week with a pair of home games on tap, New Prague on Tuesday and Holy Angels on Friday.

Boys B-Ball: Tiger rebound, rout Chaska

Eli Rockett 25 points, seven rebounds (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Last month Chaska put on a three-point shooting clinic in an 84-70 win over the Tigers in Chaska.

In Wednesday night's rematch at Tiger Gym the tables turned as the home team rolled by the Hawks 80-63 in game not nearly as close as the final score

The Missota  Conference victory snapped a three-game losing streak for Farmington and raised its league mark to 5-4. The Tigers are 15-6 overall..

"We knew going in they were going to score their points," Tiger coach Shane Wyandt said, "but we did a much better job tonight of contesting shots. We also controlled the boards and cut down our turnovers.

"Like I told the guys, we are same same players, the same team that had lost three in a row. Tonight we just did the things we need to do to be successful."

Wyatt Ferm career-high 22 points

The game was tight early with the Tigers trailing 20-17 when junior Wyatt Ferm came off the bench and promptly went on a personal 14-point scoring binge to give his team a 31-22 bulge. Ferm went five-for six from the field during the spurt that included a trio three-pointers.

"Wyatt is playing with a lot of confidence right now," Wyandt said. "He scored the ball but he also did a lot of other things well for us tonight."

Farmington was up by 10 before a closing 9-2 run sparked by Zach Speikers and Eli Rockett  made it a 19-pont lead at halftime.

The Tiger lead ballooned to as many 26 (76-50) in the second half before both teams went to their benches for the final four-plus minutes.

Rockett finished with a game-high 25 points to lead the Tigers and also pulled down seven rebounds.

"Eli was really aggressive inside tonight," Wyandt said. "That's what we need from him every night."

Ferm finished with a career-high 22 points and Speikers tallied 16. Nick Varner added eight points and a team-high 10 rebounds. Mac Bassett chipped in with seven rebounds before tweaking a knee in the second half.

Farmington won the battle of the boards 34-24 and just as importantly, turned the ball over just eight times.

"Much better job of taking care of the ball tonight," Wyandt said.

Friday the Tigers travel to Red Wing for a league encounter with the Wingers. Farmington won 69-64 when the teams met last month at Tiger Gym but Red Wing has been playing much better since the return of leading scorer Ty Buck.

"He is a load for them, a very good player," Wyandt said. "We'll need the same kind of effort that we had tonight."

Boys B-Ball: Effort there, but same result

Zach Speikers scored a team-high 16 points (photo by Jim Lindquist)

After Tuesday night's 25-point beatdown by Shakopee at Tiger Gym, coach Shane Wyandt said his team would have to improve in three areas if it was going to be competitive in Friday's Missota Conference rematch at Shakopee: shooting, defensive rebounding and effort.

The effort was there but the shooting remained frosty (8 for 24 in the first half) and the Sabers' edge on the boards continued in a 62-50 loss.

The defeat was the third in a row for the Tigers who started the season on a 14-3 run. The loss dropped them to 4-4 in league play.

"I thought our effort was much better tonight," Wyandt said, "but we turned the ball over way too much and gave them (Shakopee) too many easy baskets because we didn't control the defensive glass. You can't do those things and expect to beat a good team like that."

The visitors got an early taste of what was to come when they turned the ball over on three of their first four trips down the floor.

Fortunately, the Sabers weren't shooting the ball very well and the games stayed close early. The score was tied at 10-10 before Tiger turnovers and Shakopee put-back propelled the Sabers to a 10-point halftime lead at 33-23.

"Between out turnovers and their offensive rebounding, they got a lot of easy baskets." Wyandt said. "We stressed at halftime the importance of getting the ball inside against their zone and hitting the defensive boards."

Farmington heeded the halftime advice early in the second period. The Tigers opened the half on a 10-2 spurt with all of the points coming from post players Eli Rockett and Nick Varner.

Sophomore Alex Hart came off the bench to add a couple of more baskets inside to pull the Tigers to 46-42 with 6:50 to play but then the 10th-ranked Sabers put together an 11-1 run of their own to pull away.

Zach Speikers rebounded from his sub-par outing on Tuesday (4 points) to lead the Tigers in scoring with 16 points. Rockett added 14.

Wyandt said the biggest thing about the recent three-game slide is the effect is the effect it is having on his team's confidence.

"We've seen how well we can play," he said. "We know what we have to do to get back to the way we played earlier in the season and I am confident we will get there."

Wednesday the Tigers play host to Chaska who shot the lights out in an 84-70 win earlier in the season at Chaska. Friday night it's on to Red Wing for a rematch with the Wingers.

Boys B-Ball: Cold as ice

Eli Rockett scored 12 points against Shakopee (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Farmington coach Shane Wyandt says his team is at its best when it dictates the pace of the game. In Tuesday night's lackluster 54-29 Missota Conference home court loss to Shakopee the Tigers were the dictatees.

The Sabers who stand alone atop the conference standings with a perfect 7-0 record used their deliberate half-court offense and aggressive zone defense to hand Farmington its second straight loss. The Tigers are 4-3 in league play and 14-5 overall.

"There's no positive way to spin tonight," coach Wyandt said. "We couldn't make a shot. We didn't rebound and most of all, the effort wasn't there.

"On one possession in the second half, the ball was on the floor three times and three different Shakopee players hit the floor going after it. Not one of our guys did. It was a bad night all around."

Shakopee led from its opening possession and held a 27-17 edge by the halftime break, thanks largely to ice cold Farmington shooting (6 for 24) and the ability to make three-point shots (6).

"They have a couple of big post players and guys who can shoot the three," Wyandt said. "They'll be content to play that deliberate half-court game all night. The best way to beat them is to rebound and pick up the pace...and we didn't do that."

The Sabers started the second half on a 15-8 run and kept pouring it on as the Farmington shooting numbers continued to move toward the frigid air temperature outside.

Farmington made just five of 22 shots after intermission and ended the night hitting an anemic 24 percent of its shots (11 for 46).

Eli Rockett finished with 12 points to lead the Farmington scorers but no other Tiger managed more than five. Leading scorer Zach Speikers had only one field goal and didn't score in his team's 12-point second half.

"Not being able to practice because of school being closed didn't help," Wyandt said, "but Shakopee was in the same boat."

In a odd turn in the schedule the Tigers travel to Shakopee on Friday night to open the second round of the Missota Conference round-robin schedule.

Boys B-Ball: Tigers fade down the stretch



Zach Speikers 24 points (photo by J. Lindquist)

Chanhassen outscored Farmington 36-22 over the final 18 minutes to score a come-from-behind 67-60 win in a Missota Conference game played Friday night in Chanhassen.

The loss dropped Farmington to 14-4 overall and 4-2 in the conference with one game remaining in the opening round of league play. Chanhassen moved to 13-6 and 5-2.
 
Things went Farmington's way in the opening half. The Tigers shot the ball well early on before a cold spell help the Storm claw its way back into the game. The visitors hit the halftime break with a 37-31 lead.
 
"We had some really poor turnovers late in the half which allowed them to stay closer than they should have been," Tiger coach Shane Wyandt said.  
 
"In the second half we were ice cold and once we started missing shots we had nobody getting on the offensive glass. We wanted our guys to get the ball working inside but when it went in we didn't get any flow going and we started rushing outside shots when the ball was kicked back out...We never got into any kind of flow the second half and they really did."
 
The player who really got into the flow was the Storm's Joey Witthus who torched the Tiger defense for 35 points on a variety of offensive moves.
 
"He (Witthus) was able to score inside and out and even more damaging was their ability to get to the line," Wyandt said. "It was just a rough half for us and I give them (Chanhassen) credit for playing really well."
 
Tiger leading scorer Zach Speikers had another strong outing in the losing effort, finishing with a team-high 24 points. Eli Rockett was the only other Farmington player in double figures with 10. Wyatt Ferm canned a trio of three-pointers for nine points and Nick Varner chipped in with seven.
 
The Storm owned a 23-21 advantage on the boards with Varner pulling down a team-best six rebounds. Speikers dished out three assists and Varner came up with three steals.
 
Next Tuesday the Tigers will try to get back in the middle of the hunt for the Missota title when they entertain league-leading Shakopee. In a scheduling quirk, three days later they head to Shakopee for the re-match.

Boys B-Ball: Tigers make it seven out of eight

Zach Speikers 37 points (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Farmington matched its win total of all last season with an 89-79 non-conference victory over Spring Lake Park in a fast-paced, entertaining game played Tuesday night at Tiger Gym.

The triumph boosted the Tigers' season mark to 14-3. Coach Shane Wyandt's team is 4-1 in Missota Conference play heading into Friday night's road showdown at Chanhassen.

"They (Spring Lake Park) are a tough match-up for us," Wyandt said. "They like to get the ball out and shoot the three. If you get caught up in that game and they are shooting the ball well, they're tough to beat.

"I thought we played with a lot of savvy and didn't panic when they started off so hot. They beat us on the glass in the first half, but we locked down defensively and hit the boards in the second half. That's what turned it around for us."

Both teams lit up the scoreboard in a back-and-forth opening half which ended in a 43-43 draw.

The first 18 minutes featured several outstanding individual efforts with Zach Speikers and Eli Rockett scoring 17 and 15 points respectively for the Tigers, numbers still below the 20 put up by the Panthers' talented point guard  TC Robinson.

"We had a hand in his face most of the half," Wyandt said, "but he was still knocking down the shots. He's a very good player."

Farmington started the half on a 14-5 run that included a one-handed dunk by Rockett off a Johnny Dittman lob. After the throw down, the Tigers never lost the lead.

The biggest lead of the night came at 67-54 and the margin stayed at or near double digits the rest of the way. The Tigers nailed down the win by hitting 10 of 12 free throws down the stretch.Farmington helped itself from the line all night, cashing in on 29 of 37 attempts, 20 of the makes coming in the second half.

Nick Varner 14 points, 15 rebounds (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Speikers had another big second half for the winners with 20 more points for a game total of 37. Rockett finished with 19 points and seven rebounds. Nick Varner added 14 and pulled down a team-high 15 boards. Mac Bassett added eight rebounds and Dittman handed out a half dozen assists.

Robinson went off for 21 second half points and grabbed game scoring honors with 41 points.

The win was especially rewarding for Wyandt, who played high school ball and coached at Spring
 Lake Park under current coach Grant Guzy.

"We've beaten them the past two years, but every time we play them it seems to be shootout," Wyandt said. "They are very well-coached team."

After Friday's big game at Chanhassen the Tigers return to Tiger Gym next Tuesday to host league-leading Shakopee.

Boys B-Ball: Dittman's three buries Stars

Johnny Dittman's late three-pointer beat Holy Angels 60-59 (photo by Jim Lindquist)

With leading scorer Zach Speikers sitting out with a knee injury and his team trailing by a point with time running out, Johnny Dittman stepped into the spotlight and made the shot of his career.

The senior point guard's three-pointer from the top of the key, his only field goal of the night, hit nothing but net with 2.4 seconds remaining in regulation to give the Tigers an improbable 60-59 Missota Conference comeback win over Holy Angels Friday night in Richfield.

Dittman's game-winner capped a remarkable rally from a five-point deficit over the game's final 1:40.

"Thank goodness for Johnny's shot," Tiger coach Shane Wyandt said.  "It wasn't exactly how we drew it up in the huddle, but it got the job done.

"I can't say too much positive about our offense tonight but I thought our defense did a good job of keeping us in the game. We really scrapped, especially down the stretch."

Early on, the absence of Speikers (18.4 points a game) showed in major fashion. The Stars led by four points midway through the period before a late spurt led by Wyatt Ferm and Jordan DeCroock rallied the visitors.

Ferm finished with a dozen points off the bench in the opening half. DeCroock had seven, including a pair of three-pointers. Mac Bassett's rainbow three-pointer from 35 feet gave the Tigers a 34-29 halftime lead.

"With Zach (Speikers) out, I think we got a little out of sync," Wyandt said. "We are so used to running specials for him that the other guys sometime start to stand and watch. Overall, our decision making was very poor tonight.

Wyatt Ferm (center) had 16 points off the bench (photo by Jim Lindquist)

"We also got some guys in foul trouble early and our rotation got even more out of whack. We had combinations of players out there who were not used to playing with each other."

Things started to go downhill after the break when Holy Angels opened with a 12-2 run. With three minutes to play the Stars' lead stood at 57-54.

From there on, it was as tense as a high school basketball game could get. The Tigers did a good job of getting to the free throw line, but made just four of eight tries in the closing minutes.

Bassett made one of two with 51 seconds to go to cut the deficit to 59-57. The Stars then turned the ball over to set up Dittman's heroics.

"We were looking for the outside shot but Mac and Jordan were our first two options," Wyandt said. "But Johnny can shoot the ball. He's showed he can hit the three all season."

Dittman's shot found the bottom of the net with 2.4 seconds remaining but the officials added .8 of a second to the clock to further add to the intrigue.

A couple of time outs later, DeCroock made the point moot with a steal of the inbounds pass.

Ferm and Bassett finished as the top Farmington scorers with 16 points apiece. Ferm's total was a career high. DeCroock and Eli Rockett each added nine points to the winning recipe.

"Wyatt (Ferm) gave us a big spark tonight, especially in the first half," Wyandt said.

The victory was Farmington's 13th of the season (against three losses), one fewer than their entire win total from last season. The Tigers are 4-1 in Missota Conference play.

Tuesday night the Tigers step away from their Missota schedule when they entertain Spring Lake Park at Tiger Gym. Thursday they travel to Chanhassen to take on the Storm who are also 4-1 in conference play.

Boys B-Ball: Dictating the pace

Nick Varner 4 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists (photo by Jim Lindquist)

After several slow starts the Tigers found a way to get it going early in Tuesday night's 77-61 Missota Conference victory road over New Prague.

The win upped Farmington's season record to 12-3 overall and 3-1 in Missota Conference play.

"I thought this was a very good team effort and one that allowed some individuals to really have great games," Tiger coach Shane Wyandt said. "Really, all of our starters played well and I thought we got very good minutes off the bench, especially from Jordan DeCroock and Tyler VanWinkle."

The visitors led 37-23 halftime, a cushion Wyandt attributed to two main factors: 1) an ability to get the ball out in transition and dictate the pace of the game and 2) defensive rebounding.

"We've challenged the guys to come out with more intensity on the glass and they certainly did that against a very big New Prague team," Wyandt said. "The rebounding intensity translated to the other end as well, and we were able to get some key second chance opportunities."

Zach Speikers, who finished with a game-high 28 points, led the first half surge with four three-pointers.

The second half was much more evenly played but New Prague (6-6) never seriously cut into their halftime deficit.

Jordan DeCroock 9 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds, 3 steals off the bench (photo by J. Lindquist)

Speikers, who has scored 61 points in the past two games, had plenty of offensive help with Eli Rockett and Mac Bassett both finishing in double figures with 17 and 10 points respectively. DeCroock added nine points, three rebounds, three steals and three assists off the bench.

Varner pulled down a team-high seven rebounds and matched point guard Johnny Dittman with five assists.

The Tigers resume their Missota Conference schedule Friday night when they travel to Richfield for a date with Holy Angels (5-7; 1-2). The Stars upset Red Wing 48-44 Tuesday night.

"We need to continue to get healthy and bring a similar effort to what we did at New Prague," Wyandt said.

Boys B-Ball: Tigers stun No. 7 Wingers 69-64

Zach Speikers 33 points (photo by Jim Lindquist)

For the first 28 minutes of Farmington's Missota Conference win over seventh-ranked (3A) Red Wing Friday night at Tiger Gym it looked nothing like the team that had won 10 of its first 13 games.

Shots, especially from in the paint, weren't falling. Turnovers were piling up, time was running out and the Wingers were sitting on a 62-50 lead.

Then all of a sudden a switch tripped and the game turned on a dime. Farmington held its guests without a field goal the rest of the way to finish with a 69-64 victory.

"I wish I knew why and we would fix it," Tiger coach Shane Wyandt said of his team's Dr. Jekyll-Mr. Hyde personality. "We had a great comeback but we didn't have to be in that position in the first place."

The Tigers did jump to an early 14-7 lead but the hot-shooting Wingers made short work of their deficit, outscoring the home team 29-15 the rest of the half. Red Wing hit 15 of 27 shots (56 percent), including six three-pointers, over the first 18 minutes.

Zach Speikers' 14 points first half points were the only reasons the Tigers were within shouting distance at the break.

"The Missota Conference has some great shooting teams this year," Wyandt said, "and we are going to have to find a way to be more consistent from the start if we are going to compete."

Red Wing extended its lead to as many as 18 points at 59-41 after intermission, hitting six of its first seven shots of the second period.

Three-pointers by Speikers and Mac Bassett and an old-fashioned three-point play by Speikers sliced the deficit to 12 points and then momentum took its 180 degree turn.

Bassett's corner three cut the Winger lead to 62-60 with 4:00 minutes to play and Johnny Dittman's free throws 17 seconds later knotted the score.

Eli Rockett (No. 21) 12 points, 14 rebounds (photo by Jim Lindquist)

A steal by Eli Rockett led to Speikers' twisting left-handed lay-up with a minute to play gave Farmington the lead for good.

The final five points came from the foul line. Bassett made one of two with 27 seconds left and then Speikers drained four straight to complete the turnaround.

"I would say the two things that keyed the run were our defensive intensity and our decision making." Wyandt said. "We do those two things and we are a good basketball team. We just need to do them the whole game."

Speikers had another brilliant offensive night for the winners, finishing with 33 points, includuing six three-pointers and a perfect 7-for 7 from the foul line.

Rockett added a statistical double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds. Dittman added 10 points, finishing in double figures for the fourth straight game. Nick Varner scored just two points but chipped in with nine rebounds.

Jordan DeCroock played sparingly because of illness and rotation regulars Tyler VanWinkle and Wyatt Ferm both sat out because of the same reason.

That gave some playing time to sophomore Alex Hart who spelled both Rockett and Varner inside and contributed a basket and solid defensive play.

The Tigers hit the road next week for two more conference games, at New Prague on Tuesday and at Holy Angels on Friday.

Boys B-Ball: Red-hot Hawks handle Tigers

Johnny Dittman scored a season-high 21 points (photo by Jim Lindquist)

The recent frigid weather snap seemed to have no effect on Chaska's three-point shooting as the Hawks soared by the Tigers 94-80 Tuesday night in Chaska.

Chaska drained 10 three-pointers in the first half on the way to a 48-39 lead and then hit its first six shots of the second half to ice its seventh win in the past eight games.

The visitors didn't help themselves by committing a rash of turnovers, several of them coming after a they had cut the deficit to single digits in the second period.

To add injury to insult, the Tigers played the final 18 minutes without the services of starting forward Mac Bassett who suffered an ankle injury before intermission. In addition, Wyatt Ferm, one of the first players off the bench, did not make the trip due to illness.

"We knew they could shoot and would get their points," Tiger coach Shane Wyandt said. "We wanted to mix up our defenses and keep them from getting in any kind of flow.

"It was the perfect storm. They hit everything they threw up there and we didn't play very well. We got down early and didn't use our size advantage. It must have taken six minutes for us to start  getting the ball inside at the start of the game."

Farmington never led in the contest and trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half. Three times in the second half the Tigers pulled to within nine but could get no closer.

Chaska finished the night hitting 15 shots from behind the three-point arc. All told, the Hawks connected on 33 of 61 shots for a blistering 54 percent.

Farmington actually finished with a higher shooting percentage (61 percent) but it was the possessions that yielded no shots and the three-pointer disparity (16-7) that made the difference.

On the positive side, the Tigers had four starters score in double figures with Johnny Dittman leading the way with a season-high 21 points. Eli Rockett added 19, Zach Speikers 14 and Nick Varner 12. Jordan DeCroock chipped in with eight.

The loss for Farmington (10-3) left it with an early Missota Conference mark of 1-1 while Chaska remained unbeaten in league play at 2-0.

The Tigers conclude a tough week with a home game Friday night against Red Wing. The Wingers are 8-2 overall and 0-1 in league play with their loss also coming at the hands of Chaska

Boys B-Ball: Tigers win No. 10

Mac Bassett 10 points, 10 rebounds (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Farmington showed no ill effects from playing two nights in a row, rolling by Irondale 77-43 Friday night in New Brighton.

The win was the 10th in 12 outings for the Tigers who scored a similarly lopsided victory over North St. Paul (68-39) on Thursday.

Like the win over the Polars, the outcome of Friday's night's contest was decided early with the visitors sailing to a 45-21 lead at the halftime break.

The final 18-minute period was second verse same as the first even though Tiger coach Shane Wyandt substituted liberally.

"I thought we really played solid defense early," coach Shane Wyandt said, "and as we made a few corrections to our transition game we were able to get out and run. 

"They (Irondale) had a very difficult time with us in the full court both offensively and defensively.  We were able to get good shots and lay-ups off the break and we also forced some turnovers with our press."

Seventeen Farmington players saw floor time in win No. 10. Thirteen of them dented the scoring column with three finishing in double figures.

Leading scorer Zach Speikers paced the offense with 15 points. Johnny Dittman hit double digits for the second night in a row with 13 and Mac Bassett put together a statistical double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Wyandt said he and his staff were not satisfied with their team's work on the defensive glass in the first half so they challenged individuals to "become greedy" and see who could get the most rebounds.

"Mac took that seriously and really did a nice job of getting after the boards on both ends," Wyandt said.

Wyatt Ferm and Dallas Guyot each pulled down five rebounds for the winners. Speikers led in assists with four. Bassett and Ferm each came up with three steals.

The Tigers will take their lofty record into Missota Conference play Tuesday when they travel to Chaska to battle the Hawks who defeated Red Wing 71-68 Friday night.

Boys B-Ball: Tigers ice Polars

Johnny Dittman 12 points vs. North St. Paul (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Farmington finished off the first leg of a rare back-to-back game schedule with a 68-39 rout of North St. Paul Thursday night at Tiger Gym. The Tigers travel to Irondale tonight (Friday) for another non-conference game.

The win over the visiting Polars gave coach Shane Wyandt an opportunity to play his entire roster and for the most part he was pleased with the effort.

"Going in, the message was that this was a game we should win," he said. "But on paper we were favored in both of the games in the Hastings tournament, too. In the case of Burnsville that didn't work out so well.

"I thought we were much more patient on offense tonight. When we could run we did, and when we
couldn't we were disciplined in the half court. We kept running our sets until we got the shot we wanted...Our defensive sets were also much improved."

The winners set the tone early, converting nine of their first 12 shots on the way to a 26-12 lead after the game's first eight minutes.

By halftime the lead had swelled to a lopsided 40-19 with the Tigers finishing the first 18 minutes shooting 48 percent (12 of 25). The only thing left to decide was the final score.

Wyandt used nine players in the opening half and by the time the final horn sounded, 18 Tigers had seen floor time.

Eleven Farmington players found their way into the scorebook. Three of them reached double figures with Eli Rockett topping the list with 13 points. Guards Johnny Dittman and Jordan DeCroock added 12 and 11 respectively. Zach Speikers chipped in with eight and Tyler VanWinkle had six.

The only downside to Farmington's ninth win in 11 tries came in the opening moments when senior post Nick Varner after scoring the first two points of the night suffered a jaw injury and did not return.

"Nick was already out for tomorrow because he is having wisdom teeth removed," Wyandt said. "He was in a lot of pain after getting hit tonight, so we'll have to see what the extent of the injury is.  We're hoping he will be ready to go next week."

Tuesday night the Tigers face a big Missota Conference test when they travel to Chaska (7-3) to take on the Hawks who have won six of their last seven games.