Farmington Frontcourt Engineers 61-40 Rout of Conard

FARMINGTON – The slam dunks and blocked shots came in buckets.

The imposing Farmington front line of Ben Pollack, Mike English and Obi Momah ruled the paint at both ends of the floor. Vastly improved guard Jalen Hurst orchestrated the show and the result was music to the ears of Indians coach Duane Witter.

It was much more than an evolving Conard squad could handle.

With Hurst defining the point guard’s role, Pollack and Momah recorded double-doubles Thursday night as Farmington rolled to a 61-40 victory over a Conard in a CCC West contest at the Indians’ gym.

Farmington (7-1, 4-1 CCC West) has won three straight since enduring its lone blemish against state powerhouse Northwest Catholic.

Pollack covered every aspect on the stat sheet, pouring in 23 points, ripping down 15 rebounds, making four steals, blocking three shots and dishing out a pair of assists. Momah, in his best performance to date, scored 18 points, grabbed 11 caroms and made four steals.

“We’re going to pound the boards at both ends,” Witter said. “Our strength is our frontcourt. We know it and we’re going to try to get the ball into those guys.”

The Indians filled the highlight reel with four crowd-pleasing dunks, two by Pollack in the first quarter that essentially set the tone for the game.

The Indians held an early 7-3 lead when they came out of a timeout and executed a perfect alley-oop dunk. Hurst made the inbounds pass and Ivan Guadalupe placed the ball just where Pollack likes it. Pollack turned the same trick again two minutes later with Hurst making the pass. Witter indicated that more than just two people are responsible for such sparkling execution.

“It’s not just Jalen throwing a good pass or Ben,” Witter said. “There are subtleties there that guys are doing that they don’t get a lot of credit for. [Brawny 6-foot-3 forward Mike] English is one of those guys. [Starting guard Vasil Borisevich] is another kid who doesn’t always get the assist but he makes the pass that leads to the assist.

“We’re talking all about unselfish this year. That’s what we’re all about.”

Conard’s Luis Colon began the game with a three-pointer but Farmington quickly took the lead on two free throws and a feed inside to Pollack by Hurst.

“[Hurst] is filling up all the columns on the stat sheet,” Witter said. “It’s been different things each game. He’s unselfish enough to give the ball to the guys inside and let them make plays.”

Farmington went on a 15-0 tear and held Conard scoreless for six minutes. The Chieftains never recovered.

“We hadn’t played against kids that big except for [Northwest’s 6-8 Kuran] Iverson so we were kind of thinking our way through it,” Conard coach John Benyei said. “We haven’t learned to go inside out. We just want to fly through [the lane] 100 miles an hour.”

Farmington had a 17-7 lead after the first quarter and outscored the Chieftains (5-5, 1-5) by the exact same count in the second. Witter rotated his second string into the game in the second half as the Indians cruised to victory.

Farmington shot 47 percent from the field (23-for-49) while holding Conard to 17-for-55 (31 percent) and forcing 18 turnovers.

The Chieftains were unable to generate a perimeter game that may have enabled them to stay competitive. Colon’s trey was their only three-point bucket.

“We don’t shoot the ball well enough from the outside. That’s why some people play a zone against us,” Benyei said.

Anthony Lugo led Conard with 14 points. Colon made six steals. Matt Douglin battled the Farmington frontline, grabbing 10 rebounds.

Farmington 61, Conard 40

Conard (5-5): Sean Carneiro 1 0-2 2, Luis Colon 3 1-7 8, Matt Douglin 2 0-0 4, Doug Horan 1 0-0 2, Anthony Lugo 6 2-4 14, Adam Litke 2 0-0 4, Matt Williams 1 2-4 4, Will Simons 0 0-0 0, Travis Sinatro 1 0-0 2, Max Vogel-Freedman 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 5-17 40.

Farmington (7-1): Vasil Borisevich 0 1-2 1, Mike English 1 1-2 3, Jalen Hurst 4 2-3 11, Obi Momah 8 2-4 18, Ben Pollack 8 7-12 23, Ivan Guadalupe 1 0-0 2, Nieko Labbadia 0 0-2 0, Kyle Rizzo 0 1-2 1, Darrien Mason 1 0-0 2, Trey Witter 0 0-0 0, Colin Cheesman 0 0-0 0, Jeremy Buck 0 0-0 0, Justin Mango 0 0-0 0, Jayson Martin 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 14-27 61.

Conard 7 7 13 13 – 40

Farmington 17 17 14 13 – 61

Three-point goals: Colon, Hurst.