| Pirates
win at Lapwai!!!
The Prairie Pirates broke a long dry spell when they won at Lapwai for the first time in 24 years and the first time ever in the current gym there, 49-41 Saturday, January 17. It was the first win anywhere over the Wildcats since the 1990-91 season. 
Lapwai came out in the first quarter like they didn’t have any intention of breaking that string either as they jumped all over the Pirates. Lapwai’s Rich Ramsey scored 7 points and sophomore Coty Reuben came off the bench to add 6 as Lapwai jumped out to an 8-20 lead, forcing 6 Pirate turnovers in the process and holding the Pirates to 4 for 12 shooting. Matt Baerlocher posted up down low and scored on a pass from Brent Frei to cut the lead to 10-20 at the end of the quarter. Tyler Crane opened the second quarter scoring with a short turn-around jumper. Lapwai answered with a free throw but Jacob Riener scored a lay-up and a steal by Baerlocher led to a 3-point play by Crane. Chad Arnzen then scored a put back to cut the lead to just 2. Prairie had made up 8 points in just 2 minutes of play. Reuben slowed the comeback with a 3-pointer but Riener answered with a wide open back door lay-up on which Lapwai didn’t have a player within 8 feet of him. After another basket by Reuben, Riener scored another back-door lay-up that was almost as wide-open as the first one. Baerlocher then gave Prairie their first lead since 2-0 when he scored a rare 4-point play. He banked in a 3-pointer from the top of the key and was knocked to the floor. Coach Jerry Uhling was lobbying for a 1 and 1 as he felt the foul was well after the shot. Baerlocher added the free throw for a 27-26 lead with 3:50 left in the quarter. Prairie then slowed the pace down and it was nearly 2 minutes later before Baerlocher added another free throw and a minute after that before Crane scored a lay-up for a 30-26 halftime lead. Prairie had connected on 8 of 17 shots in the second quarter and committed just 1 turnover while Lapwai cooled off to just 2 for 11. Lapwai trimmed the lead to 2 early in the third quarter but a pair of free throws and then a lay-up by Baerlocher put Prairie up by 6 at 34-28. Prairie eventually led by 8 on 2 occasions in the quarter but Lapwai cut the lead back to 6 entering the fourth quarter. Lapwai scored to open the fourth quarter and cut the lead to 4. Arnzen scored a lay-up off an inbounds play to push the lead back to 6 but Lapwai answered with a steal and drive to again cut the lead to 4 with 4:50 to play. Prairie again went to the slowdown offense, looking for an open lay-up but content to move the ball around and run the clock down if that didn’t happen. Lapwai wound up fouling, sending Pirates to the line at the 3:31, 2:10 and 36 second marks where Arnzen, Riener and Baerlocher each converted the first but missed the second to push the lead to 47-40. Lapwai finally got on the board again with a free throw after a 4:36 dry spell but Shane Doyle finished off the scoring with a pair of free throws with 5 seconds left. After committing the 6 turnovers in the first quarter, Prairie tightened up their ballhandling and committed just 5 the rest of the game while forcing 16 turnovers from Lapwai. Also Reuben, who scored 11 in the first half, was held to just 1 shot attempt in the second half as Prairie defenders made an effort to get a hand in his face and not give him any open looks. Cutting down on the turnovers also cut down on the fast break baskets Lapwai likes to get and the Pirates defended well against Lapwai’s halfcourt offense. Baerlocher wound up with 20 points to lead the scoring with Crane scoring 11, Riener 9, Arnzen 7 and Doyle 2. Prairie had the rebounding edge as well, 36-29 as Baerlocher had 10 rebounds and Riener 8. Baerlocher had 6 steals and 8 assists. There were 13 assists for Prairie’s 18 baskets as the Pirates did a great job of looking for the open man. Prairie was 18 for 49 from the field, 37%, and 12 for 19 at the line while Lapwai was 17 for 43 from the field, 40%, and 4 for 8 at the line. For Arnzen the game was his first action since the Kamiah game on Dec. 20. He missed the Fruitland Tournament for family commitments and then the last 3 games for disciplinary actions. With the win Prairie improves to 11-2 on the season and 5-1 in league play. In the JV game Prairie jumped out to a big early lead but gave it all up by halftime and wound up losing 50-71. Seth Crane hit 7 of 10 first quarter shots and Mat Forsmann and Kelby Wilson each scored 4 as prairie jumped out to a 22-8 lead late in the first quarter. Things turned completely around in the second though as Lapwai had a 0-9 run that pulled them within 3 at 24-21. A basket and a free throw by Crane and a putback by Forsmann made it 29-21 but then Lapwai put a 0-8 run together that tied the score at 29. Forsmann hit a 3 pointer and later added a lay-up on an inbounds play as Prairie led 34-33 at the half. Lapwai controlled the third quarter though, outscoring Prairie 6-15 in the period to take a 40-48 lead and then kept it rolling in the fourth to win going away. Crane wound up with 24 points to lead Prairie in scoring with Forsmann scoring 16. Wilson scored 4 with Sean Daly, Corey Schaeffer and J.D. Riener scoring 2 each. Lapwai had the rebounding edge 33-43. Crane had 9 to lead Prairie with Daly adding 7 rebounds. Forsmann had 5 steals and 3 assists. Prairie hit 23 of 59 shots and 2 of 11 free throws while Lapwai was 27 for 58 from the field and 16 for 22 from the line. Prairie 10 20 12 7 -49 Lapwai 20 6 10 5 -41 Prairie-Crane 5-15, 1-1, 11; Chaffee 0-1, 0-0, 0; Frei 0-0, 0-1, 0; Baerlocher 6-15, 7-10, 20; Doyle 0-3, 2-2, 2; Arnzen 3-5, 1-2, 7; Riener 4-9, 1-3, 9; Nuxoll 0-0, 0-0, 0; Forsmann 0-0, 0-0, 0. 3-pointers-Baerlocher. Lapwai-Mahuron 1-6, 0-0, 2; J. Leighton 1-3, 0-0, 2; Moody 1-3, 1-2, 3; P. Leighton 1-7, 0-0, 3; Ramsey 6-8, 1-2, 13; Reuben 4-10, 1-1, 11; Sonneck 1-2, 0-0, 2; Jones 2-2, 1-2, 5; Running 0-2, 0-0, 0. 3-pointers-Reuben 2, P. Leighton. Pirates win at Nezperce The Prairie Pirates took a 28-19 lead at halftime of their game at Nezperce and held on to win 50-41 Tuesday, January 13. The Pirates clamped down on defense keeping Nezperce on the perimeter as they held them to 26% shooting. Prairie took a 12-7 lead after one quarter and extended the lead to 9 by halftime. The second half was played to a 22-22 standoff as the Pirates forced some shots and weren’t patient enough on offense for their coach, Jerry Uhling. Matt Baerlocher had a double-double as he led the team in both points and rebounds with 19 and 10 respectively. Jacob Riener and Jake Chaffee had 9 points each with Tyler Crane scoring 7, Mat Forsmann 4 and Shane Doyle 2. Prairie also won the JV game by a 57-47 score. Prairie 12 16 10 12 -50 Nezperce 7 12 12 10 -41 Prairie-Crane 3, 0-0, 7; Chaffee 4, 1-2, 9; Frei 0, 0-0, 0; Nuxoll 0, 0-0, 0; Forsmann 2, 0-1, 4; Riener 4, 1-4, 9; Baerlocher 5, 6-6, 19; Doyle 1, 0-1, 2. 3-pointers-Baerlocher 3, Crane. Nezperce-Orr 0, 0-0, 0; Stenzel 0, 0-0, 0, Luke 6, 0-0, 12; Harris 1, 2-2, 4; Baldus 3, 0-0, 9; Lunder 5, 1-1, 14; Oliver 0, 0-0, 0; Fernandez 0, 0-0, 0; Howard 0, 0-0, 0; Hart 0, 0-0, 0; Wessels 0, 0-0, 0; Rosenau 1, 0-0, 2. 3-pointers-Baldus 3, Lunders 3. Pirates win big at Orofino The Prairie Pirates had little trouble in a league game at Orofino as they led 16-4 after one quarter and wound up winning 66-37 Thursday, January 15. Scoring runs of 7 and 13 points in the first half allowed the Pirates to open up a 22-4 lead by the 6:12 mark of the second quarter.  At
that point the Pirates eased off a little on the defensive intensity and
took Matt Baerlocher, who scored 5 in the first quarter, out of the game.
Orofino managed to score 10 points in the quarter but still trailed 32-14 at the half. Baerlocher came back in for the third quarter and poured in 12 points as the Pirates blitzed the Maniacs 20-9 in the quarter. The two JV swing players, Mat Forsmann and Seth Crane, got to see a lot of playing time in the fourth quarter and scored 4 points each to help keep the Pirates lead well above a 20-point margin. Baerlocher wound up with 17 points in just 2 quarters of action while Jacob Riener and Forsmann scored 11 each. Jake Chaffee nearly joined them in double figures with 9 with Brent Frei scoring 7, Jacob Nuxoll and Seth Crane 4 each and Tyler Crane 3. Prairie also controlled the boards 39-24 with Riener collecting 9 rebounds to lead the team. Frei added 7 boards and Chaffee added 6. Baerlocher had 4 steals and 5 assists. The Pirates hit 23 of 45 shots, 51%, and 17 of 26 free throws while Orofino was 14 for 39 from the field, 36%, and 2 for 2 at the line. Prairie also won the JV game without much trouble, 51-19. Mat Forsmann hit 4 of 6 shots, including a pair of 3-pointers, in the first quarter to help Prairie take a 12-7 lead. 
In the second quarter Prairie held Orofino to just free throws as they outscored the Maniacs 17-5. Forsmann added 8 more points to wind up with 18 for his 2 quarters of work. The scoring was spread around more in the third quarter as Sean Daly scored 4 while Corey Schaeffer scored 3 and Kelby Wilson, Seth Crane and J.D. Riener scored 2 each as the Pirates kept building on their lead with a 13-5 quarter. The fourth quarter was more of the same as the Maniacs were held to 1 for 11 from the floor while the Pirates hit 3 of 5 attempts including a 3-pointer by Kevin Funke. Forsmann wound up leading the team in scoring with 18 points with Daly scoring 9, Schaeffer 7, Wilson and Crane 6 each, Funke 3 and Riener 2. Prairie held a slim 30-29 rebounding edge with Wilson grabbing 8 rebounds and Crane 7. Forsmann had 4 steals while Christopher Schumacher had 3. Daly and Wilson had 3 assists each. Prairie was 19 for 41 from the field, 46%, and 9 for 12 at the line while Orofino was 6 for 38 from the field, 16%, and 7 for 11 at the line. Prairie 16 16 20 14 -66 Orofino 4 10 9 14 -37 Prairie-T. Crane 1-9, 0-0, 3; Chaffee 3-7, 3-4, 9; Nuxoll 2-2, 0-0, 4; Riener 5-13, 1-4, 11; Baerlocher 6-8, 4-5, 17; Frei 2-4, 3-5, 7; Forsmann 2-6, 6-6, 11; S. Crane 2-6, 0-2, 4. 3-pointers-T. Crane, Baerlocher, Forsmann. Orofino-Savage 5-10, 0-0, 14; McLeod 0-1, 0-0, 0; Garland 1-5, 2-2, 4; Blake 3-3, 0-0, 6; Marvin 3-11, 0-0, 6; Copeland 2-5, 0-0, 5; Diffin 0-2, 0-0, 0; Rodriquez 0-0, 0-0, 0; Crecelius 0-1, 0-0, 0; Mangum 0-1, 0-0, 0. 3-pointers-Savage 4, Copeland. Wrestlers compete at St. Maries Shane Poxleitner took first place and Nick Uhlenkott second at the St. Maries wrestling tournament this past weekend. No further details were available to the Chronicle.
Winter Sports Schedules January 23rd Home Potlatch 6:00 January 29th Away C.V. 6:00 January 31st Home Kamiah 6:00 February 3rd Home Orofino 6:00 February 6th Home Lapwai 6:00 February 12th Away Grangeville 6:00 January 29th Away Orofino/CV 6:00 February 5th Home Kamiah/CV 6:00 February 6th & 7th Away Weiser Tour. TBA February 13th Away G-ville/Kamiah 6:00 February 21st Districts Kamiah TBA February 26th/28th State Pocatello TBA |
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