Arkansas high school boys basketball state tournament: Layne Taylor scores 30 in Farmington’s 4A quarterfinal win over Magnolia

Mills also advances to semifinals

Farmington held Magnolia without a field goal through the first quarter of play Thursday night in the quarterfinals of the boys Class 4A State Tournament, as the Cardinals rolled to a 53-40 victory on their home court. 

Senior sensation Layne Taylor proved to be a man on a mission from the tip, pouring in a game-high 30 points, to go along with 8 assists and 3 rebounds. 

Farmington's Layne Taylor had a game-high 30 points, 8 assists and 3 rebounds. (Photo by Steve Andrews)

After Farmington’s Jaxon Berry opened the scoring with a layup, Taylor then canned a three and scored eight straight points, as the Cardinals took a 10-2 lead at the end of the opening stanza. Magnolia’s lone points came on a pair of free throws from Malik Brewer.

“That was huge,” Taylor said of the first-quarter defense. “We kind of set the tone with that at the beginning of the game. We knew all their sets – the names of them – so when they would call a set, we knew exactly what they were going to run. And we did a great job of playing off of their personnel.”

The Cardinals (34-2) often used their defensive stops lead to transitional offensive baskets through the first half.

“We weren’t making shots tonight like we usually do, but whenever you’re not making shots, you got to score in transition a little bit, and get out and run,” Taylor said. “And we were able to do a great job of pulling some boards and airing it down court for some baskets.”

Taylor hit a couple of big threes in the second quarter as the Cardinals stretched the lead to 27-10 at the intermission.

Magnolia (25-3) seemed to get into a little rhythm after the break, as the Panthers actually outscored the Cardinals 18-17 in the third quarter. Junior Ahmad Davis scored 11 of his team-high 14 in the second half.

“I thought defensively we did a great job in the first half -- we played off our ‘cheat sheet’ and were able to hold them to just three field goals, and Mason Simpson and Jaxon Berry killed the glass for us,” Farmington head coach Johnny Taylor said. “Second half, we just held on, which is what you’ve got to do. We’ve got to play smarter, but super proud of how hard we played.”

Berry finished with a game-high 12 rebounds, to accompany his 15 points, while Simpson yanked down seven boards, including four on the offensive end.

After a turnaround jumper in the lane by Taylor boosted the Cardinals lead to 48-28 with 6:44 remaining, the Panthers began to make a surge, outscoring Farmington, 12-9, in the final quarter. But it proved to be too little, too late for Magnolia.

The Cardinals face Mills in the Saturday’s semifinals.

Little Rock Mills 73. Westside 59

Mills University Studies (24-9) outscored Westside by 14 points in the pivotal third quarter Thursday night, to break up a competitive game and win going away, 73-59, in the quarterfinals of the state 4A tournament.

Sophomore guard Maziyah Curry drained a couple of early treys for the Comets in the opening stanza to put Mills out from 17-11. Curry finished with a team-high 16 points.

Junior Weston Honeycutt scored 12 of his game-high 23 in the first half, but the Warriors (24-8) began to get outgunned in the second half, going down 55-39 heading to the fourth quarter.

--Steve Andrews | @SBLIveArk