Lakers Blitz Tigers Early in 79-53 Loss

by Pat Rupp

Farmington coach Tharen Johnson said he knew what to expect when his Tigers traveled to Prior Lake for a South Suburban Conference game Tuesday night. Turned out knowing wasn’t nearly enough.

“We knew they were going to press us,” he said. We practiced extensively Monday against their press, and we still couldn’t handle it.”

The Lakers pressed from Farmington’s possession and the results couldn’t have been more devastating. The final 79-53 score told the story.

Prior Lake scored the first 16 points of the night and by the time Jarrett Hunt nailed a corner three to end the scoring drought, the visitors had already committed seven of their game total of 16 turnovers.

“We won't win many games doing that,” Johnson said. “I told our guys in pre-game you can't win a game in the first five minutes but you can lose it. I guess the message didn't sink in.”

The Tigers eventually started finding the basket and twice cut the first-half deficit to 11 points. Sam Wilson’s basket made it 26-15 but the Lakers closed on a 17-8 spurt and by intermission were up by 20 at 43-23.

The final half was more competitive but the Grand Canyon-like hole the Tigers dugs themselves over the first 18 minutes was too much to overcome.

The box score bore out many of the problems for the Tigers who dropped their fifth straight game after starting the season 6-4.

They shot just 41.7 percent from the field, a full 10 percent less than the winners. The year long struggle at the foul line also continued with a 5-for-16 performance (31 percent).

Prior Lake won the battle of the boards, outrebounding its guests by a count of 40-27. The Lakers scored 34 points in the paint and 21 of their total came off the 16 Farmington turnovers.

Individually, Wilson was the only Tiger to crack double figures with a team-high 21 points. Brock Mogensen added nine and Jarrett Hunt seven.

“Brock was one guy out there who matched Prior Lake’s aggressiveness and that's why he was successful,” Johnson said.

 “Going into the game the plan was to give Jarrett a role in the rotation. He has been playing consistently hard in practice and JV games and earned his minutes. A lot has to do with Jarrett being very coachable.”

Kole Hinrichsen handed out a team-high four assists. Caden Freetly didn’t score but did come up with four steals. No Tiger finished with more than three rebounds.

“We had the three toughest teams in the conference in a row,” Johnson said. “All three have upperclassmen with experience and they took advantage of our mistakes. It's now on us to get better in practice and come ready to compete.”

Next up on the docket is a match-up with Rosemount Friday night at Tiger Gym. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00.