NOTES: Farnsworth ends Valley basketball coaching tenure after 26-5 season

For the first time since 2002, there will not be a Farnsworth on the sideline for Valley’s boys basketball team.

Brian Farnsworth, one of the longest-tenured prep basketball coaches in the area, said Tuesday he has resigned as Vikings coach after 10 seasons to spend more time with his family. The school has not named a replacement.

“When I started (at Valley) I didn’t have any kids, and now I have four kids and my oldest is in middle school,” Farnsworth said. “I’m a family man, and watching them grow up is important to me, and so spending time with them is the No. 1 reason for it.”

Farnsworth spent three seasons as an assistant at Valley before succeeding his father, Tom, as the school’s coach for the 2005-06 season. Farnsworth had a 204-93 record and guided the Vikings to the Sunrise Region playoffs in nine of his 10 seasons.

Valley went 0-3 in region finals during Farnsworth’s tenure, including a 65-63 triple-overtime loss to Canyon Springs this past season when 12 of the 13 players on Valley’s roster were seniors. The Vikings went 26-5 in Farnsworth’s final season.

“I kind of felt this group has been with me for four years, I wanted to see them out,” Farnsworth said. “The timing was right. It was good to go out with a great team, a great group of guys, for sure.”

Farnsworth expects to coach again in the future.

“Coaching’s in my blood,” he said.

■ INFLUX OF TALENT — Bailey and Samantha Thomas, two of the nation’s top girls basketball prospects, will play next season in the valley, according to their father, Derek. At which school remains to be seen.

“We’re still researching, just getting an idea from people of where the better programs are and where to look,” Derek Thomas said this week.

Bailey Thomas, a 5-foot-9-inch junior point guard, is committed to West Virginia, and Samantha Thomas is a versatile 6-foot sophomore. This season, the sisters helped Birmingham (Mich.) Marian to its second straight large-school state title and a No. 7 ranking in the USA Today Super 25.

Derek Thomas is a former UNLV assistant coach under Charlie Spoonhour and head coach for five seasons at Western Illinois. He also was an assistant at Detroit before resigning in 2012 and now is coaching with the Las Vegas Prospects boys travel team.

■ PILOTS MOVE UP — Findlay Prep’s boys basketball team finished No. 4 in the final USA Today Super 25 rankings.

The Pilots went 29-3 under first-year coach Andy Johnson and lost in the semifinals of the High School National Tournament to Montverde Academy (Fla.), which finished atop the Super 25 poll for the second straight year.

■ RECENT COMMITMENTS — Silverado senior Dillon Johnson to College of Southern Nevada for baseball. … Senior Jinger Meuir and 2014 graduate Anysa Calderon of Green Valley, and Palo Verde senior Emily Guthrie to CSN for softball. … Centennial senior Austin Brooks to Westminster College (Utah) for men’s soccer.

Contact reporter David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidSchoenLVRJ.