FARMINGTON -- Matt Wilson said his legs were a bit tired and he felt he was pushing his shot after Friday night's game against Waldron.
An ice bath prior to Saturday's game refreshed him, and his 27 points led Farmington to a 60-45 win over Huntsville to capture the 2016 Tony Chachere's Classic title.
Tony Chachere’s Classic at Farmington
Boys
Farmington 60, Huntsville 45
Farmington^20^24^6^10^–^60
Huntsville^15^5^15^10^–^45
Farmington (7-1): Wilson 27, Staten 10, Carbonel 7, Fenton 7, Maxwell 5, Montez 4.
Hunstville (7-4):Bohannan 15, Pemberton 9, Yarbrough 8, Siegrist 8, Scott 5.
Jack Eaton, Huntsville's leading scorer, did not play due to a deep thigh bruise suffered Friday against Gravette, and the Cardinals took advantage.
Wilson scored eight in the first quarter and 11 more in the second and did so efficiently. At halftime, Wilson had poured in 19 points on 8 of 9 shooting. His only miss came on a deep 3-pointer as the half ended.
"The good thing about his shots was none of them were rushed," Farmington coach Beau Thompson said. "Now some of them were from way downtown, but he was under control when he shot the basketball."
Wilson's hot start spread throughout the Cardinals' offense in the first half. Farmington shot a sizzling 18-of-23 from the floor and 8-of-12 from behind the 3-point line and built a 44-20 lead at the break.
The Cardinals owned the second quarter after a competitive first that saw four of five starters from each team record at least one bucket. Ten-of-12 shots fell for Farmington and its defense clamped down as the Cardinals outscored the Eagles 24-5.
"We knew they didn't have their best one, and (Ty Bohannan and Alex Pemberton) were their best shooters," Wilson said. "We pushed up on them, and we knew they didn't like pressure, so we were trapping the second quarter and that sped them up maybe more than they'd like to."
Huntsville did battle back in the third and early fourth, cutting the Farmington lead in half to just 12. But Wilson answered with a big and-1 to slow Huntsville's run. His three-point play gave Farmington traction after a 2-of-12 shooting effort in the third quarter.
"That's what good players do," Thompson said. "When it's time to go get a bucket sometimes you've just got to go get it, and that's what he did."
In the three-day event, Wilson averaged 29.3 points per game and is putting up better than 30 per night in his last four outings. Perhaps Farmington's biggest plus in the win, though, was the play of Xavier Staten, who added 10 points on 4 of 8 from the floor.
Staten knocked down four of his first five shots, two from distance, to take some of the defensive attention away from Wilson.
"That's the best he's shot all year," Wilson said of Staten, who joined the team roughly a month ago at the end of Farmington's football season.
Farmington has a quick turnaround following a four-game week, hosting Bentonville West on Monday, but overall, Wilson was pleased with the the Cardinals' play the last three days.
"We lost to Huntsville earlier in the season, and obviously last night wasn't great, but this was a great team win," he said. "We passed the ball. This was just a great team win."
Gravette 67, Waldron 45
Kelton Trembly's two-handed breakaway dunk in the third quarter sealed Gravette's win over Waldron on Saturday. The junior was held scoreless in the first quarter but poured in a team-high 17 points. Seth Duke added 15 points for the Lions as well.
Luke Reed continued his hot play for Waldron, scoring a game-high 19 points. Jesse Chrisman chipped in eight points, all in the fourth quarter.
Girls
Gravette 53, Waldron 32
Gravette led 31-11 at half and cruised to a win over the Lady Bulldogs on the final day of the Tony Chachere's Classic.
The Lady Lions displayed offensive balance in the win as Bernice Garcia and Tori Foster each scored nine points and Elizabeth McKenzie added eight. Lori Gallup scored a team-high eight points for Waldron.
Huntsville 64, Farmington 28
Huntsville's Maci Campbell scored a game-high 23 points on 6-of-8 from deep and led the Lady Eagles to a convincing win in the Tony Chachere's championship game.
Three other Lady Eagles -- Makayla Watkins, Delanie Tipton, Drain Sulffridge -- also scored in double figures, adding 12, 11 and 11 points, respectively. Makenna Vanzant led Farmington with eight points in the loss.
Sports on 12/11/2016