| Pirates
advance to District Championship game
The Prairie Pirates led for only a little more than 4 minutes but that was enough to beat Potlatch 42-38 in their District Tournament opener Tuesday, Feb. 13 at the LCSC Activity Center in Lewiston. 
The win put them into the District Championship game against Lapwai on Tuesday, Feb. 20. If they won that game they advance to the State Tournament. If they lost they would play the Potlatch-Kamiah winner Thursday, Feb. 22 at 7:30 p.m. at the LCSC Activity Center. With a win in that game they would travel to Post Falls to play Wallace at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 24. A win in that game sends them to state which takes place at Vallivue High School in Caldwell March 1-3. The game didn’t start well for Prairie as Potlatch took a 0-6 lead. Prairie finally scored on a reverse lay-up by Hunter Chaffee with 3:08 left in the first quarter. Chaffee came into the game nursing a tender ankle he injured on Senior night the previous Saturday against Orofino. Coach Kevin Chaffee said he figured Hunter was about 70%. Potlatch was up 4-13 when Devin Ross banked in a 30-footer from about 30 feet out at the buzzer to cut the deficit to 7-13. Potlatch pushed the lead back to 9 at 9-18 when DacotaHadaller converted a 3-point play with 6:08 left in the half. Chaffee responded with a 3 then the teams traded baskets with Prairie down 14-22 with 4:20 left. Dylan Schumacher scored inside with 4:10 left and Ross followed with a basket 40 seconds later to cut the margin to 4 at 18-22. Two free throws pushed the lead back to 6 but Spencer Schumacher answered with a basket inside then stole the ball and drove for a score with 1:40 left to pull the Pirates within 2 at 22-24, which is where the score stood at the half. In the third quarter Potlatch scored first but a basket each by Nick Mager and Ross allowed Prairie to tie the score at 26 with 5:25 left. Potlatch’s Connor Akins then scored a pair of baskets to put the Loggers back up by 4. A putback by Mager and another basket by Akins left the score at 28-32 after 3 quarters. In the fourth quarter Potlatch scored twice to take a 28-36 lead with 6:40 to play. Two free throws by Spencer Schumacher and a steal by Spencer that led to a basket by Mager cut the lead to 4 with 6:04 left. Brayden Hadaller scored for Potlatch with 5:27 left to push the lead back to 6 at 32-38. At that point Chaffee got hot and the defensive intensity stepped up as well. Chaffee sank a 3 to cut the lead in half and then the press forced a turnover with Dylan Schumacher making the steal. That led to another 3 by Chaffee that tied it with 4:45 left. Another Potlatch turnover eventually led to an inbounds play under the Prairie basket with Chaffee scoring inside and getting fouled. He converted the 3-point play to put Prairie up 41-38 with 4:08 to play. Prairie had their chances to increase the lead but missed 4 straight free throws before Dylan Schumacher hit one with 34 seconds left. That turned out to be the only point scored in the final 4 minutes with Potlatch not scoring in the final 5:20 of play. Both teams would either turn the ball over or miss a shot and have the other team rebound. Akins, who scored all 8 points for Potlatch in the third quarter and had 16 for the game, attempted just 1 shot in the fourth quarter. Chaffee wound up with 14 points to lead Prairie in scoring with Spencer Schumacher scoring 12, Ross 7, Mager 6 and Dylan Schumacher 3. Potlatch had the rebounding edge 18-23. Spencer Schumacher led Prairie with 6 rebounds. Spencer Schumacher had 3 steals and Dylan Schumacher had 2. Chaffee and Mager each had 4 assists. Prairie was 17 for 31 for the game, 55%, and 4 for 10 at the line, 40%. Potlatch was 17 for 41 from the field, 41%, and 3 for 3 at the line. Prairie is now 18-3 on the season. Prairie 7 15 6 14 -42 Potlatch 13 11 8 6 -38 Prairie-Mager 3-6, 0-1, 6; Chaffee 5-9, 1-1, 14; Forsmann 0-1, 0-0, 0; Ross 3-7, 0-0, 7; S. Schumacher 5-7, 2-5, 12; D. Schumacher 1-1, 1-3, 3. 3-pointers-Chaffee 3, Ross. Potlatch-Judson 4-8, 0-0, 8; Akins 7-10, 2-2, 16; B. Hadaller 3-9, 0-0, 7; Thompson 1-5, 0-0, 2; D. Hadaller 2-7, 1-1, 5; Clark 0-0, 0-0, 0; Svancara 0-2, 0-0, 0. 3-pointers-B. Hadaller.
PIRATES BOYS BASKETBALL SCHEDULE FOR 2017-18 *indicates league game 9-Troy Quad, here*, 4 & 5:30, won43-31 14-Lapwai, here*, lost 33-67 15-Grangeville, here, Idaho County Shootout, V only, 7:30 p.m., won 51-46 19-Asotin, Quad, there, 4:30, won 67-59 6-Genesee, there*, won 49-44 8-C.V., here*, won 72-24 12-Potlatch, here*, won 45-37 18-Kamiah, there*, lost 29-31 20-Troy Quad, there*, 4 & 5:30, won 63-44 23-Lapwai, there*, won 51-35 26-Orofino, there, won 49-23 29-Asotin, Quad, here, 4:30, rescheduled from Jan. 2, won 50-37 3-Genesee, here*, won 37-29 5-Moscow, there, won 55-52 8-C.V., there*, won 63-39 10-Orofino, here, won 68-16 13-District at LCSC vs. Potlatch, won 42-38 20-District Championship game vs. Lapwai, 7:30 p.m., lost 29-58, details next week 22-District 2nd Place game vs. Potlatch, 7:30 p.m. 24-State Play-In at Post Falls, 1:00 p.m. March 1-3-State at Caldwell |
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