Tigers will savor basketball tourney opportunity

Farmington defeats Lakeville North in section boys final, ending 87-year drought

Quick, name something that happened between the Great Depression and World War II.

There are any number of correct answers, one of which is that it was the time of Farmington High School’s only appearance in the state high school boys basketball tournament – until this week. The Class 4A field again has several schools that regularly show up in the tourney including both of last year’s finalists, Wayzata and Park Center. But this year it has four teams from the long-time-no-see category.

Rogers last played at state 15 years ago. Eagan’s last trip was 2005. Coon Rapids is returning to state for the first time since 1983, when it finished second in Class AA of what was then a two-class event.

And then there’s Farmington, which hasn’t been seen at state since 1937. The 87-year drought was broken Wednesday, when the Tigers played Cretin-Derham Hall in the Class 4A quarterfinals at the Target Center (that game took place after this edition went to press).

After the Tigers defeated Lakeville North 70-59 in the Section 1 championship game in Rochester on March 15, they raced back to Farmington High School to cut down a net (they couldn’t do at Mayo Civic Arena because their game was the first of a doubleheader).

It had been a while, after all.

Tigers coach Tharen Johnson made sure to have his team look at the banners and other athletic memorabilia in the Farmington gym, so that if it did earn a trip to state the significance to the school and community would not be lost on them.

“Two years ago we were disappointed we didn’t get to go,” Johnson said, referring to a Tigers team that lost in the 2022 section final. “That was one of the things we discussed, that Farmington hadn’t been to the basketball tournament since before World War II. Our guys understand what it means to our community.”

Farmington has undergone a transformation from rural school to the 15th-largest high school in Minnesota. This version of the Tigers is anxious to show what it can do in the state basketball tourney’s biggest enrollment class, on its biggest stage.

The winner between Farmington (23-6) and Cretin-Derham Hall (24-4) advanced to the Class 4A quarterfinals at 6 p.m. Thursday at Williams Arena to play defending state champion Wayzata or Rogers. The championship game is 8 p.m. Saturday at Williams Arena.

The Tigers and Raiders have a little history. They played Dec. 9 in the Breakdown Tip-Off Classic, with Farmington winning 74-65. But a lot has happened in the three months since they played.

“It was our third game of the season and their first,” Johnson said. “I’ve been watching video of some of their more recent games. Their top guy is going to be (sophomore guard) Joe Mitchell, who played at Apple Valley last year, and they have some other guys who can score.”

That’s a bit like Farmington, which has six players who average at least seven points a game and three who average in double figures. Several players have taken on leading roles from one game to the next, and it was junior guard Ryan Beckwith’s turn against Lakeville North in the section final. Beckwith, who averages 10.6 points (his brother Tyler, a senior, is the Tigers’ second-leading scorer), had a game-high 26 points, including a three-pointer to open the scoring.

“One of the best things about our team is we have a number of guys who contribute,” Johnson said. “Tyler and Ryan had great games for us in the section. Brandon Hrncir is our leading scorer (20 points per game). We can go pretty deep because we have a lot of guys we have confidence in.”

Hrncir had 17 points and Ryan Beckwith 14 in the section championship game.

Lakeville North (23-6), seeking a 10th state tournament appearance since 2012, went on a 16-0 run in the first half to take a 24-14 lead. Farmington responded with a 12-2 run to tie the game, then took over in the second half.

“We’ve been in that situation a few other times,” Johnson said of North’s early lead. “I don’t think our guys were worried. We got back in the game, and then I thought we were the better team in the second half.”

The teams split two regular-season South Suburban Conference games, with each winning on the other’s home floor.

“They have three guys (guards Jack Robison and Matt Drake and forward Andrew Quam) who do a lot of their scoring,” Johnson said. “We tried to have our bigger guys on them. Although Quam is taller than Tyler Beckwith, Tyler is one of our best defensive players.”

Quam had 16 points and seven rebounds for North. Drake scored 14 and junior guard James Fager had 12. Robison averages 21.9 points and the University of Wisconsin recruit had 15 points, nine rebounds and five assists in the section final. But the Tigers held North to 37.5% shooting, and Robison made just one of 10 three-point attempts.

“We were a little lucky there,” Johnson said. “We’ve seen Robison enough to know he’s a heck of a player. He’s going to have a really good career in Division I.”