| Pirates
edge Kendrick
After hitting 2 free throws to put Prairie ahead, David Sigler along with Kyle Holthaus combined to force a turnover that allowed Prairie to escape with a 55-54 win over Kendrick in loser-out play at District Tuesday, Feb. 19. 
The game was close most of the way although Prairie was able to take a 10-point lead on a couple of occasions early in the fourth quarter. The Pirates jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the game as Devin Schmidt, starting in place of injured Tyler Forsmann who hurt his ribs the night before against Lapwai, got the game’s first basket on a pass from Sigler after Prairie had won the opening tap. After a Kendrick turnover, Sigler found Branden Waller open underneath for a lay-up. Kendrick scored to make it 4-2 then Kyle Daly swished a pair of free throws, a harbinger of things to come. Sigler made it 8-2 after stealing the ball and driving in for a lay-up. Kendrick rallied back though and cut the lead to 12-11 by the end of the first quarter with Ben Warner sinking a last-second 3-pointer. Kendrick took their first lead on a basket to open the second quarter. They attempted to extend the lead after a Prairie turnover but Waller blocked a shot by Kendrick’s Addison Mortenson that led to Waller scoring a lay-up on the other end. Another basket by Waller made it 16-13. Prairie never could shake the Tigers though as the teams pretty much exchanged scores through the rest of the half. Sigler went 5 for 5 at the line in the quarter to give Prairie a perfect 9 for 9 effort at the line in the first half. His final two free throws of the half gave Prairie a 27-25 lead with 38 seconds left in the half. Kendrick then worked the ball around and Warner sank another 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Kendrick a 27-28 halftime lead. Prairie took back the lead early in the third quarter when Eric Daly was fouled attempting to putback his own miss. His 2 free throws made it a perfect 11 for 11 at the line for the Pirates. Kendrick answered with their own two free throws to retake the lead but then Prairie put together a 5-0 run. Eric Daly scored a put back then Waller went to the line and had Prairie’s first miss of the night at the line but made the second one. Following a Kendrick turnover Waller scored on an inbounds play to make it 34-30. Kendrick sliced the lead to 1 with a Mortenson 3-pointer but Prairie made another 5-0 run to push the lead to 6 points. Schmidt scored from the side, Waller added another free throw and then connected from the elbow to make it 39-33. After a Kendrick basket, Sigler drove for a lay-up and Kyle Daly found brother Eric Daly open underneath for a lay-up to make it 43-35 with 1 minute left in the third. Kendrick worked the ball around for another try at a Warner buzzer-beater but this time he missed it.  Waller
drove the lane for a basket to open the fourth quarter scoring and give
Prairie a 10-point lead.
After a Kendrick basket, Waller hit a pair of free throws to again make it a 10-point lead at 47-37 with 5:37 left to play. At that point things started falling apart for the Pirates. Mortenson hit a 3-pointer and after a Prairie turnover, David Gobbi hit a 3 to cut the lead to 4. Kyle Daly sank both ends of a 1 and 1 to push the lead back to 6 with 4:11 left. Kendrick then made a 0-6 run helped along by some questionable decisions by the Pirates that led to turnovers. After the second basket Prairie tried a baseball pass downcourt on the inbounds play and Kendrick was able to steal the ball, which led to the tying basket. Sigler put Prairie back on top with a driving 1-hander off the glass but Kendrick’s Chase Christopher made his third straight basket to again tie the score with 2:44 left. Twelve seconds later Sigler was fouled, putting Prairie into the double bonus at the line. Sigler made both free throws to put Prairie up by 2. Kendrick worked the ball around until Gobbi got an open look and sank a 3-pointer to put Kendrick back on top with 1:27 left. Over the next 35 seconds each team turned the ball over twice and then Christopher finally missed a shot with Waller grabbing the rebound. With 20 seconds left Sigler drove into the lane and the ball got knocked loose. It appeared it might wind up as a jump ball and Kendrick had the arrow but Mortenson got whistled for the foul, sending Sigler to the line. He made both free throws to give Prairie back the lead with 14.9 seconds left. After a timeout Kendrick inbounded the ball to Warner who proceeded to dribble the clock down to the final seconds then drove into the lane looking to either shoot or pass off, likely to Christopher for a lay-up, but he ran into Sigler and Holthaus’ double-team and Sigler poked the ball loose. Holthaus pushed the loose ball toward the top of the key and then took control of it run out the clock. Sigler wound up with 21 points and 6 assists and was a perfect 11 for 11 at the line. Waller scored 20 points and had 12 rebounds. Eric Daly scored 6 points. Kyle Daly scored 4 and had 9 rebounds and Schmidt added 4 points. Prairie outrebounded the Tigers by a wide margin, 37-15. Prairie was 17 for 40 from the field, 43%, and an amazing 21 for 24 at the line, 88%. Kendrick was 21 for 47 from the field, 45%, and 5 for 8 at the line. One of the free throw misses didn’t look that important at the time but coach Teel Bruner pointed out that Mortenson’s toe was on the line on a free throw attempt as he tried to complete a 3-point play early in the second quarter. Kyle Daly had 2 steals and 2 assists while Waller also had 2 assists. The two places Kendrick had the advantage in the game were 3-pointers and turnovers. Kendrick scored 7 threes to none for the Pirates and forced 17 turnovers while committing 10. Prairie 12 15 16 12 -55 Kendrick 11 17 7 19 -54 Prairie-E. Daly 2-3, 2-2, 6; K. Daly 0-1, 4-4, 4; Schmidt 2-7, 0-0, 4; Sigler 5-12, 11-11, 21; Waller 8-13, 4-6, 20; Enneking 0-1, 0-0, 0; Holthaus 0-1, 0-1, 0; Rieman 0-2, 0-0, 0. 3-pointers-none. Kendrick-Gobbi 4-9, 0-0, 11; Warner 3-7, 0-0, 8; Mortenson 4-8, 2-3, 12; Hammond 0-2, 0-0, 0; Christopher 6-14, 0-0, 12; Fogle 0-1, 3-4, 3; Liedkie 4-5, 0-1, 8; Renfrow 0-1, 0-0, 0. 3-pointers-Gobbi 3, Warner 2, Mortenson 2. Pirates rally comes up short against Troy For the second time in the District Tournament the Prairie Pirates rallied from a huge deficit in a game where the winner clinched a state tournament berth only to fall short, this time to the Troy Trojans 46-52 Friday, Feb. 22. 
Prairie trailed by 16 points with a minute to go in the third period but rallied to within 1 point with 41 seconds to play only to see Troy win the game at the free throw line. Prairie fell behind early in the game as Troy came out on fire hitting 7 of their first 9 shots from the field including a 4 for 4 performance by Riley Nelson that included two 3-pointers. Prairie trailed 11-16 heading into the second quarter. They closed to within 3 at one point and trailed by only 4 at 17-21 with 4:56 left in the half but then went ice-cold as Troy finished the half with a 0-8 run to take a 17-29 halftime lead. In the third quarter Troy led by as many as 16 points on 3 different occasions, the last at the aforementioned 25-41. David Sigler ended the fourth quarter scoring with a pair of free throws to cut the lead to 14. Prairie then went to a full-court tight man-to-man defense and were able to force turnovers and also rebound Troy’s misses. Tyler Forsmann, back from injury, scored to open the fourth quarter scoring then Devin Schmidt scored a lay-up. Troy turned the ball over twice without the Pirates able to capitalize but a defensive rebound led to a basket by Kyle Holthaus that cut the lead to 8. Sigler then stole the ball and was fouled attempting a lay-up. He made both free throws to cut the lead to 6. Another steal by Sigler led to a basket by Schmidt that cut the lead to 4 with 4:30 left. Troy broke the 10-0 Pirate run by scoring on an inbounds play. With 4:03 left Troy’s Nick Garrison was fouled by Holthaus on what would’ve been a breakaway for a lay-up. Garrison wound up missing both free throws and Sigler  rebounded
and was fouled. He made both ends of the 1 and 1.
40 seconds later a defensive round by Branden Waller led to a driving lay-up by Sigler that cut the lead to 41-43. Troy answered with a play that wound up with Jason Smith getting an open look at the top of the key for a 3-pointer that put the lead back at 5. Holthaus scored a lay-up off a pass from Schmidt that cut the lead back to 3. Garrison was fouled again and this time made the first free throw but missed the second with Prairie rebounding. That led to a 3-pointer by Waller on a kickout pass from the low post by Schmidt that cut the lead to just 1 with 40.9 seconds to play. Prairie’s next 3 trips down the floor though all resulted in turnovers and the Pirates wound up fouling Smith each time. Smith hit 5 of his 6 free throw attempts for the final 6-point margin of victory for Troy. Prairie likely just ran out of gas at the end as it takes a lot of energy to eliminate a 16 point deficit. Sigler wound up with 16 points to lead the Pirates in scoring. Waller scored 10, Schmidt 8, Forsmann and Holthaus 4 each and Eric and Kyle Daly 2 each. Prairie wound up controlling the boards 25-15 with Waller grabbing 9 rebounds. Sigler had 2 steals and Waller had 4 assists while Schmidt and Sigler had 3 assists each. Prairie was 17 for 38 from the field, 45%, and 10 for 13 at the line, 77%, while Troy was 19 for 33 from the field, 58%, and 9 for 14 at the line, 64%. With the loss Prairie ends their season with a 14-10 record. Prairie 11 6 10 19 -46 Troy 16 13 12 11 -52 Prairie-E. Daly 1-2, 0-0, 2; K. Daly 1-1, 0-0, 2; Sigler 3-8, 9-10, 16; Forsmann 2-6, 0-0, 4; Waller 4-9, 1-2, 10; Schmidt 4-8, 0-0, 8; Rieman 0-2, 0-0, 0; Holthaus 2-2, 0-1, 4; Enneking 0-0, 0-0, 0. 3-pointers-Waller, Sigler. Troy-J. Nelson 2-2, 2-2, 6; R. Nelson 7-12, 0-0, 17; G. Swanger 0-1, 0-0, 0; Smith 6-9, 6-8, 20; Garrison 2-6, 1-4, 5; McGraw 1-1, 0-0, 2; Dimmick 1-2, 0-0, 2; S. Swanger 0-0, 0-0, 0. 3-pointers-R. Nelson 3, Smith 2. PIRATES BOYS BASKETBALL SCHEDULE FOR 2007-08 *indicates league game 6-Highland, here, won 84-57 7-Lapwai, here, lost 49-62 14-Christmas Tourn. Vs. Horseshoe Bend, won 63-18 15-Christmas Tourn. Vs. Council, won 59-43 20-Troy, there*, lost 46-65 28-Orofino Tournament, vs. Asotin, won 60-59 29-Orofino Tournament, vs. Orofino, lost 44-60 10-Culdesac, there,*, won 71-36 12-Genesee, here*, lost 43-69 17-Highland, there*, won 81-62 22-Grangeville, here, won 49-42 24-Nezperce, there*, won 71-66 29-Lapwai, there*, lost 49-54 FEBRUARY 9-Timberline, here* (rescheduled from Jan.
31. JV start time is 1 p.m.) won 71-51
PIRATES BOYS BASEBALL SCHEDULE FOR 2008 March 11-at Kamiah 13-vs. Potlatch at Lewiston (2 games), 4:30 p.m. 17-at C.V. (Non-league) 18-at Culdesac 3-Kamiah, here 5-At Lewis County, 11 a.m. 8-at Genesee (2 games) 15-Culdesac, here 17-at Timberline, 4:30 p.m. 18-at Kendrick 19-McCall, here, 11 a.m. 22-Timberline, here 24-Lewis County, here 25-Kendrick, here 28-at Troy 29-C.V. here 9-10-District continues at Kendrick 16-17-State at Kendrick |
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