Farmington 78 Rochester JM 69: Five Things to Know

The last several days we talked about the challenge that JM would likely give Farmington and that's exactly what happened. The Tigers earned the win with balance overcoming a big effort from [player_tooltip player_id='2359929' first='Chan' last='Malith'].   One. Depth Wins. With four players in double figures scoring wise, and three players in double figures rebounding wise, Farmington just had too many pieces for the Rockets to deal with. This was not a great game for USF signed [player_tooltip player_id='1287441' first='Brandon' last='Hrncir'] but towards the end of regulation and in overtime, Brandon was the guy making game winning plays. He had a big score late in regulation and then had an And1 followed by a d-board into an outlet pass for a dunk that were crucial plays. Brandon had a 12 point, 10 rebound double-double, [player_tooltip player_id='1439459' first='Tyler' last='Beckwith'] had a double-double and [player_tooltip player_id='1575348' first='Cole' last='Wilcek'] grabbed ten boards. Farmington just had too many weapons for JM to deal with.   Two. Beckwiths. [player_tooltip player_id='1439459' first='Tyler' last='Beckwith'] played point guard, grabbed a game high 11 rebounds, and he scored 19 points. Tyler picked his spots scoring seven baskets and his late game dunk off a stop was really the play that seemed to sink the Rockets. [player_tooltip player_id='1617794' first='Ryan' last='Beckwith'] had a team high 24 points highlighted by five triples and five of six foul shooting. I'm not even sure Ryan played 24 minutes so those 24 points were likely in a higher than a point per minute scenario. Excellent effort both and I think [player_tooltip player_id='1439459' first='Tyler' last='Beckwith']'s versatility has really grown.   Three. Chan The Man. In a losing effort [player_tooltip player_id='2359929' first='Chan' last='Malith'] was outstanding. It took him a while to get a rhythm as Farmington had a second and a third defender to him every time he beat the initial defender. Once he started hitting threes (four of them) and the pair of Kobe fall-aways the court really opened up for Malith. He scored 33 points making 14 of 30 shots plus grabbed eight boards. Malith is a 6'4 senior guard with a mega motor and an ability to stay on balance and make difficult shots. I think he has the potential to really grow into a nice college basketball player.   JM will not be going away. They lose their main player but so much returns. Point guard Eliah Ladu is a junior and he had a nice game in ball pressure plus scored 16 points with seven assists. Brayson Sawyer is a junior that can really shoot the ball and score in double digits. [player_tooltip player_id='2422069' first='Angok' last='Kucha'] is a 6'6 forward that returns, 6'10 big man Joe Lueth will also be back and there is potential there plus watch for freshman Jackson Daly to grow into a key player . That is a very good group of five to build on for next year.   Four. Roche. [player_tooltip player_id='1306897' first='Liam' last='Roche'] was big. He scored 16 recently against Lakeville North and then had another big 16 tonight tying his career high. The key thing about Roche was the timing of his scores because Farmington hit a lull and Liam seemed to take him out of that lull with a three, foul shots, and then another three. He made four triples in all playing a vital role in the win.   Five. Frustrations. This game has two frustrations for me and I have gone back and forth on whether I should share them. It's not that I want to cause conflict or something but there were two things that bothered me about the game and I think the concerns might need to be shared as they are important in telling the story:   One. As we said before the game JM won 13 of their last 17 coming into the contest. They only use two seniors so they needed some juniors to come of age, and then did. As for their seeding of seven of eight, that is where they should be. But a 15-10 team at seven of eight is incredible when you realize they have a better record than the one seeds in two other sections! I just do not see how it's fair that Farmington can be a top ten team all season and get a two seed and have to face JM while a team they've beat twice from their own conference who is just a short drive away, gets a one seed and plays a five win team. It would be one thing if these teams were two hours apart but they are two turns on the road apart! And people talk about it being fair for the teams that are from the outstate to have a chance at state, half of those outstate teams are in 1AAAA with Lakeville North. You really think the Rochester schools and Owatonna would have minded a 64 team tournament when they always have to go through the Panthers all these years? They are not that far from the 55 metro teams that make up most of AAAA and my guess is most of those teams would not mind a 64 team event at all.   Two. I was not a fan of the officiating tonight. By no means am I saying they were partial to a team or that they didn't try their best, but I just think they played too big of a part in the game. There were three bang bang charge calls, all went to the home team. The contact going to the basket I do not believe was officiated evenly as I thought the Tigers made contact on the hip or waist many times JM had a corner turn or straight line attack. And you cannot give a team a timeout after the opposing team has in-bounded the ball and dribbled two or three times. At that point in the game it was 66-66, Hrncir scored to make it 68-66, and then the Tigers got a whistle long after the ball was put in. That was the point where the 12-3 run came for the Tigers to finish the game.   I believe the Tigers were the more balanced team and the team that should have won but that does not mean I thought it was as fair as it should have been whistle wise.

The last several days we talked about the challenge that JM would likely give Farmington and that's exactly what happened. The Tigers earned the win with balance overcoming a big effort from Chan Malith Chan Malith 6'4" | SG Rochester JM | 2024 State MN .