Farmington boys shoot lights out in win over Gallup

Scorps to lock with KC in district showdown tonight

GALLUP

Fresh off a 21-point win over Bloomfield last Thursday, the Farmington boys basketball turned in another complete performance on Saturday night.

The Scorpions used a 17-5 run at the start of the second quarter to take command in turning back Gallup by a 61-49 count.

“We wanted to have a real uptempo pace and we did that against Bloomfield the other night,” Farmington coach Paul Corley said. “I kind of let the kids loose the last two games. I told them to have fun and push the ball and let’s keep the pressure up.”

With the win, Farmington improved to 19-3 overall and 5-1 in the district race as they await tonight’s showdown with Kirtland Central. On Saturday, the Broncos upped it record to 13-9, 5-1 in league play after beating Aztec 87-68.”

“Right now we are playing really well,” Corley said while adding that Thursday’s game with KC is real important. “We just need to continue and enjoy the ride.”

With a bench a lot deeper than most teams in the district, Corley said they are able to wear teams down as the Scorpions got out in transition whenever they could.

And when Gallup settled in their zone in the opening half, Farmington was able to offset that scheme with their guards knocking down shots from the perimeter.

With Farmington having a slew of weapons, Gallup first-year coach James Voight said you “have to pick your poison” on how you want to guard Class 5A’s fifth ranked team.

“They’re big and they killed us inside the first time we played so we packed it in there with a zone and then (tonight) they shot really well,” said Voight, whose team dropped to 8-14 overall and 2-4 in district play. “That is probably the best they’ve shot since I’ve seen them this year.”

For a good part of the first half, Gallup was able to match Farmington point-for-point with senior guard Nate John and scoring eight of his 11 points in the opening quarter. His trey with 2:34 left gave Gallup a 13-11 edge.

Senior guard Keaton Kristy, meanwhile, paced Farmington, as he scored 10 of the Scorpions first 11 points.

With the game tied 17-all at the start of the second quarter, Christy shot lights out as he added 10 more points during Farmington’s 17-5 run. At the 2:02 mark, his fourth trey gave the Scorpions a 30-20 advantage.

Christy later added a two-point bucket for a 34-22 halftime lead.

“With teams sitting in a zone they worry about our big man (David Riley) and that’s a real X factor for us,” Corley said. “And when they do that our guards have to hit shots.

Farmington picked up where they left off and increased that 12-point halftime margin into a 42-23 lead on a dunk by Riley with 5:16 left in the third quarter.

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