Van Buren defeated in home opener

Van Buren boys basketball coach Austin Trembley knew he had a lot of new faces on his squad at the outset of the season. He also hasn’t had much time to work with those players as a vast majority had come over from the Pointer football team’s recent playoff run. Which makes it an even bigger work in progress. The Pointers flashed their future potential several times in their home opener Monday against Farmington. But two big runs proved to be too much to overcome for Van Buren, as the Pointers dropped a 65-56 decision at Clair Bates Arena. “We have a new team and then we just had a lot of guys coming in from football, and to be honest, when you’ve got a new team and about four practices under your belt, we’re not in shape right now,” Trembley said. “We’ve got to play harder, but we’ve got to get in shape to do that, so we know that. “We’ve got to fight fatigue in the meantime, so we’ve just got to get better and we will. We’ll get a lot better.” Farmington began the game on a 24-8 run before the Pointers (0-2) gradually began chipping away at their deficit. Van Buren trailed by 11 at halftime before getting to within five, 30-25, on a basket from sophomore Gary Phillips. But a 3-pointer on the other end from Farmington’s Will Pridmore ignited a 14-4 run to end the third quarter, with Pridmore adding another 3 with time running out, which increased the lead to 15, 44-29. Farmington then extended it to 22 points, 55-33, on a 3 from Jaylen Montez. The Pointers made one more surge, getting within nine inside of two minutes, but Farmington was able to withstand it. “In the game, we had slivers to where the effort and the energy was better. ... We’re just not there yet, but we showed some glimpses there,” Trembley said. “I will say this, of all the teams I’ve ever coached, this one for sure has the largest room for growth just because we haven’t been together, and we’re going to do that now. That’s our plan moving forward.” Montez, a senior guard, led all scorers with 26 points as he also made six 3's. Pridmore, another senior guard, added 19 points as he converted a pair of 3s as well. Logan Brothers scored 19 points while Trent Ball added 13 for the Pointers. The two also combined to score 21 of the team’s 27 fourth-quarter points. Brothers made four 3s while Ball had two baskets from beyond the arc. Van Buren will resume play on Nov. 29 when the Pointers hold their annual Citizen’s Bank tournament, starting with an opening-round game against Mena.

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Van Buren High School Athletics

VAN BUREN DEFEATED IN HOME OPENER

BUCK RINGGOLD

Times Record | 11/20/2018

PHOTO CREDIT: Jamie Mitchell