Farmington 75 Eastview 68: Five Things to Know

<p>Farmington vs Eastview was a Top Ten match-up in an incredible Senior Day environment on a Friday night.  The game was, odd.  Read about it in Five Things to Know.</p> <p><strong>One. Farmington Effort</strong>.  The Tigers won this game with effort.  They took 79 shots!  I would say that the Tigers had about 22 offensive rebounds and their second chance opportunities is what gave them the win.   [player_tooltip player_id="958680" first="Kyle" last="Hrncir"] (ten boards), Brendan Ebel (9 boards), and Zach Cochnauer (9 boards) were three of the players that were in constant position to get putbacks or collections into kick-outs to restart a possession.  Eastview is not a small team but they just weren’t able to get their size or their guards/wings to make block out hits therefore the Tigers won the game because they worked harder. </p> <p><strong>Two.  Winning Ugly.</strong>  When you beat a top ten team and you work really hard I wouldn’t say it’s ugly, but the Farmington shooting numbers were quite ugly.  Just not as ugly as Eastview’s defensive rebounding efforts. I previously mentioned that Farmington likely had around 22 offensive rebounds.  They took 23 more shots than Eastview so that estimate sounds about correct.  Farmington made less than a third of their attempts (26 of 79 shooting) but still controlled the game. <span style="font-size: 1rem;">Upper Iowa signed [player_tooltip player_id="958680" first="Kyle" last="Hrncir"] has played at an All State level this year, but he shot 5 of 17 last night.  [player_tooltip player_id="1144102" first="Sam" last="Hoffman"] was a game changer with his four threes, 19 points, and 7 of 8 foul shooting, but he was 4 of 17 from the field! </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Zach Cochnauer was 1 of 6, Brendan Ebel was 3 of 10, and [player_tooltip player_id="1226395" first="Baiden" last="Bean"] was 4 of 10, but yet Farmington entered the final minute with a 15 point lead!  It was odd indeed, but that is what happens when you work harder. </span></p> <p>Eastview had some ugly shooting days too.  [player_tooltip player_id="1139192" first="Dylan" last="Omweno"] shot 5 of 14, [player_tooltip player_id="1143863" first="Jamal" last="Ambrose"] shot 5 of 12, and [player_tooltip player_id="958669" first="Kenji" last="Scales"] shot 5 of 14 himself.  As a team they shot 22 of 56 which isn’t dreadful but they let Farmington take 23 more shot attmempts!</p> <p><strong>Three.  Farmington the One Seed?</strong> That is a very tough call and tough to project.  Our current Class AAAA top ten has Owatonna as nine and Farmington as ten.  Monday when the new rankings are released I would guess that they will be 7th and 8th.  Owatonna is 8th in QRF, Farmington is 10th.  Both teams are undefeated against section opponents.  The only common opponent is Century.  Farmington beat them by 24, Owatonna has beat Century twice with the latest being an 18 point win.  Farmington has the best win (Shakopee) between the two but the Owatonna win over Osseo is pretty close.  Farmington has the tougher schedule but seven losses while Owatonna was perfect in league play.  I give the the ever so small edge to Owatonna but it’s so close.  </p> <p><strong>Four.  American University Watches [player_tooltip player_id="1143863" first="Jamal" last="Ambrose"]</strong>.  American Head Coach Mike Brennan was at this game last night to see [player_tooltip player_id="1143863" first="Jamal" last="Ambrose"] as his team needs a big.  Jamal has the size, he has worked hard to get in better condition which has made him more agile, and Jamal has the face up touch so many schools want out of their bigs so they can stretch the defense.  Last night Jamal struggled from the field (like every other player on the court last night) shooting 5 of 12 but he hit four threes, grabbed 13 rebounds, and blocked two shots.  Earlier in the week Jamal scored 41 points against Burnsville. </p> <p><strong>Five. Prospects</strong>. Last night was a grudge match and wasn’t the best for scanning prospects but here are items on eight guys:</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1139192" first="Dylan" last="Omweno"]: quick guard that got in a rhythm late and hit three jumpers in the final minute to scare the Trigers.</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1226395" first="Baiden" last="Bean"]:  his first step and separation moves have a ton of juice.  The junior scored on 4 of 9 shots.</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958669" first="Kenji" last="Scales"]:  was clearly the best player on the floor scoring 18 points, he just didn’t have his best game</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958680" first="Kyle" last="Hrncir"]:  had a rough game finishing but his effort was constant giving him a double-double</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1143863" first="Jamal" last="Ambrose"]: when you have a touch like he does at his size eyes of college coaches will open</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1144102" first="Sam" last="Hoffman"]:  likely the game MVP because he hit 7 of 8 fouls shots and his four threes were timely</p> <p>Kaysar Hassan: was surprised that he looked fairly comfortable playing some three and a lot of that was defense</p> <p>Brendan Ebel:  had 11 points, 9 boards, and has more explosion than I was aware of</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>