| Pirates
edge Grangeville
The Prairie Pirates held on to beat Grangeville 48-44 on senior night at Cottonwood Friday, Feb. 1 
The win evened the season series at 1-1 as Grangeville beat the Pirates handily during the Idaho County Shootout in December. It was a low scoring first quarter with neither team scoring until Grangeville hit a pair of free throws at the 6:39 mark. Prairie was unable to score until the 4:35 mark when Jake Bruner scored inside but took the lead when Marcus Higgins connected on a jump shot. A 3-pointer by Grangeville gave them the lead and after a pair of free throws in the final minute the Bulldogs led 6-7 at the quarter break. Bruner scored to give Prairie back the lead but Grangeville then went on a 2-6 run to take a 10-13 lead. Rhett Schlader quickly answered as Higgins hit him on a long inbounds after the Grangeville score. After a Grangeville basket, Schlader connected n a 3-pointer to tie the game and Lucas Arnzen scored inside to give Prairie a 17-15 lead. Grangeville took back the lead with 4 straight points but a basket by Bruner tied it with 7 seconds left in the half. It looked like that would be the halftime score but for a foul on a last second 3-point try that led to 2 free throws that gave Grangeville a 19-21 halftime lead. Prairie came out strong in the third quarter as Arnzen, Bruner and Seth Chaffee each scored to put Prairie up 25-21. After Bruner hit a 3-pointer that put Prairie up 30-25 with 3:01 left in the third Grangeville came back with a 0-8 run to reclaim the lead. Higgins broke the run with a driving lay-up at the 1:24 mark and Arnzen connected on a pair of free throws 24 seconds later that gave prairie a 34-33 lead heading into the final quarter. Two free throws by Dan Wemhoff and a baseline jumper by Bruner put Prairie back on top by 5 at 38-33, equaling their largest lead of the game. Prairie then went into a scoring drought that last 3 minutes and allowed Grangeville to tie the game at 38-38 with 3:30 to play. Bruner broke the drought with another baseline shot and after Grangeville tied it again, he hit a shot from just inside the 3-point arc that put Prairie up for good with 2:20 left to play. Arnzen added a pair of free throws to put Prairie up by 4. Twice Grangeville cut the lead to 2 but each team Prairie responded. Higgins scored on a back cut and Arnzen and Chaffee each scored a free throw to give Prairie their final 4-point margin. Bruner wound up with a game-high 21 points on 10 for 14 shooting. Arnzen scored 9, Higgins 8, Schlader 5, Chaffee 3 and Wemhoff 2. Rebounding was close with Grangeville holding a 33-34 edge. Bruner had 12 to lead the Pirates with Arnzen adding 9.  Wemhoff
had 3 steals and Chaffee had 6 assists while Higgins had 5.
Prairie was 19 for 51 from the field, 37%, and 8 for 13 at the line, 62%. Grangeville was 14 for 37 from the field, 38%, and 15 for 24 at the line, 63%. Grangeville led at the half thanks mostly to free throws as they were 10 for 14 at the line in the first half while Prairie did not even attempt a free throw. With the win Prairie improves to 12-6 on the season. They are 7-4 in league play. In the JV game prairie broke open a close game with a 15-4 third quarter and went on to win 58-41. A 9-2 run in the first quarter turned a 5-7 deficit into a 14-9 lead. Isaiah Shears scored 6 of the 9 points in that run while a 3-pointer by Bryson Higgins accounted for the rest. Prairie led 14-11 at the quarter break. In the second quarter Grangeville committed just 1 turnover while forcing 6 and that enabled them to take a 24-25 lead late in the half. With 9 seconds left Calvin Hinkelman was headed for a possible lay-up when he got fouled hard and had to leave the game. Daniel Mager came in and made both free throws to give Prairie a 26-25 halftime lead. Hinkelman was able to come back into the game in the second half and opened the third quarter scoring with a 3-pointer that kicked off a 12-0 run that put Prairie in control of the game. Tanner Ross scored 8 of those points. Prairie led 41-29 after 3 quarters and with Ross and Dylon Bruegeman scoring 6 points each in the fourth quarter and Hinkelman adding another 3, Prairie was able to build on their lead and win by 17. Ross had 22 points to lead the scoring and he connected on 11 of 15 shots, 8 of 9 in the second half. Bruegeman added 10 points with Shears scoring 8. Bryson Higgins and Hinkelman scored 7 each with Jared Higgins and Mager scoring 2 each. Prairie dominated the boards 48-31 with Ross pulling down 15 rebounds and Shears 10. Jared Higgins had 3 steals and 3 assists while Bryson Higgins had 4 assists. The JV’s were 24 for 54 from the field, 46%, and 5 for 8 at the line, 63%. Grangeville was 17 for 61 from the field, 28%, and 5 for 12 at the line, 42%. Prairie 6 13 15 14 -48 Grangeville 7 14 12 11 -44 Prairie-Schlader 2-7, 0-2, 5; M. Higgins 4-9, 0-1, 8; Wemhoff 0-3, 2-2, 2; Chaffee 1-8, 1-2, 3; Bruner 10-14, 0-0, 21; Arnzen 2-6, 5-6, 9; Hankerson 0-4, 0-0, 0. 3-pointers-Schlader, Bruner. Grangeville-Solberg 3-7, 2-3, 9; Lutz 1-9, 3-3, 5; Laufenberg 2-4, 0-0, 4; Brown 4-8, 7-10, 15; Schumacher 0-2, 1-2, 1; Parks 1-3, 0-0, 2; Kelley 0-1, 0-2, 0; Dame3-4, 0-0, 6; Blankenship 0-0, 2-4, 2; Alder 0-0, 0-0, 0. 3-pointers-Solberg.
Prairie’s 3 seniors were honored before the start of the Grangeville game last Friday. They are shown with their parents. From left are Marcus Higgins with Cindy and Brad Higgins; Dan Wemhoff with Roget and Annette Wemhoff and one of his younger brothers and Seth Chaffee with Kevin and Shari Chaffee. Boys District starts next week The Prairie Pirates are set to start District Tournament play next Tuesday, Feb. 12. After losing to Kamiah Tuesday, Feb. 5 they will be the #3 seed at District and will play Lapwai at 8 p.m. Genesee gets a bye as the #1 seed with Troy playing C.V. at 5 p.m. and Kamiah playing Potlatch at 6:30 p.m. The tournament takes a break until Monday, Feb. 18. If Prairie wins they would play the Kamiah-Potlatch winner at 7:30 p.m. If they should lose, they would play at 2:00 p.m. against the Kamiah-Potlatch loser. Two more loser out games are set for Tuesday, Feb. 19 with the championship game at 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 21. The third place game is Friday, Feb. 22 at 7:30 p.m. All games are at the LCSC Activity Center. The Friday winner travels to St. Maries Saturday, Feb. 23 for a play-in game against the District 1 champion. PIRATES BOYS BASKETBALL SCHEDULE FOR 2012-13 *indicates league game 30-Nezperce, here, lost39-63 8-Genesee, there*, won 63-62 in overtime. 13-Lapwai, here*, won 70-59 14-Grangeville, there, Idaho County Shootout, lost 33-52 20-Potlatch, there*, won 64-29 27-Lapwai Tournament, beat Deary 55-43 28-Lapwai Tournament, TBA, beat Lakeside 67-47 29-Lapwai Tournament, TBA, beat Summit 71-50 12-Potlatch, here*, won 67-48 14-C.V., here*, won 66-48 18-Troy, here*, won 72-55 24-Genesee, here*, lost 40-53 25-Lapwai, there*, won 58-57 28-C.V., there*, lost 48-51 5-Kamiah, there*, lost 53-58, details next week 6-Nezperce, there, won 65-52, details next week 12, 18, 19, 21 & 22-District at LCSC 23-State Play-in game at St. Maries, 6 p.m. Feb. 28, March 1-2-State at Caldwell |
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