Troy ends Prairie's season
The Prairie Pirates’ season came to an end when they lost 30-39 to Troy on Tuesday, Feb. 21 at the District Tournament at Lewiston High School.
The Pirates played well in the opening quarter but Troy took the lead in the second quarter and never gave it up.
Shane Hanson scored the first points of the game on a putback. After Troy tied it Noah Behler put the Pirates back on top with a 3-pointer from the corner.
Hanson then converted a 3-pont play for an 8-2 Prairie lead with 3:11 to go in the first period.
Troy scored on an inbounds play to make it 8-4 with 2:47 left in the quarter and that’s how it stood at the end of the period.
Troy scored the first 5 points of the second period to take their first lead of the game. Bennie Elven tied it with a free throw then Troy scored 5 straight to retake the lead.
A 3 by Behler cut the lead to 2 but Troy answered with a basket. A 3 by Lee Forsmann cut the lead to 1 but Troy answered with a basket. Another 3 by Forsmann tied the score at 18-18 with 46 seconds left in the half.
Troy’s Eli Stoner made a pair of free throws to give Troy an 18-20 halftime lead.
Troy’s Noah Johnson scored the first 3 points of the second half but a free throw by Riley Shears and a tip-in by Forsmann of Shears’ missed second free throw cut the lead back to 2 at 21-23.
Troy scored a pair of baskets before Hanson scored a lay-up. Hanson then picked up his fourth foul on a basket by Johnson who missed the ensuing free throw. That put Troy up 23-29.
Prairie cut the lead back to 2 by the end of the quarter on a basket each by Shears and Forsmann.
In the fourth quarter Prairie seemed content to run clock down and keep it close in hopes of stealing a win at the end. Neither team scored until Troy got a basket with 6:30 left to push their lead to 4. It was over 4 minutes before Troy scored again to make it 27-32 with 2:38 left.
Prairie didn’t score in the quarter until a steal by Behler that led to a free throw by Forsmann with 50 seconds left. At that point Prairie started shooting 3’s while Troy would get the rebound and score at the other end. Troy scored 7 straight points to take a 28-39 lead.
With 5 seconds left Troy had the ball out on the side in Prairie’s end. With the game out of reach coach Tim Scheffler had put senior Ryan Wemhoff into the game to finish out his career on the floor when Prairie’s other senior, Hanson, had fouled out. Troy’s Chandler Blazzard had the ball out and yelled “hey 22” and motioned him toward Prairie’s basket. He then tossed the ball in to Wemhoff who put the ball in the basket, scoring the final points of the Prairie season and his high school career. We guess that would go into the stats as a steal for Wemhoff.
Forsmann wound up with 11 points and 9 rebounds to lead the Pirates in both categories. Hanson scored 7, Behler 6, Shears 3, Ryan Wemhoff 2 and Elven 1.
Troy had a 27-35 edge on the boards.
Matt Wemhoff had 3 steals and Behler had 3 assists.
Prairie was 11 for 40 from the field, 28%, and 4 for 7 at the line, 57%. Troy was 15 for 42 from the field, 36%, and 8 for 14 at the line, 57%.
Prairie ends their season with a record of 6-18.
Prairie 8 10 9   3 -30
Troy   4 16 9 10 -39
Prairie-M. Wemhoff 0-3, 0-0, 0; Shears 1-5, 1-2, 3; Hanson 3-10, 1-1, 7; Behler 2-10, 0-0, 6; Forsmann 4-9, 1-2, 11; Elven 0-1, 1-2, 1; Lorentz 0-1, 0-0, 0; R. Wemhoff 1-1, 0-0, 2. 3-pointers-Behler 2, Forsmann 2.
Troy-Stoner 4-9, 2-2, 11; Blazzard 2-3, 0-0, 4; Holden 2-8, 3-4, 7; Johnson 5-8, 1-4, 11; Bendel 1-6, 2-4, 4; Doumit 0-5, 0-0, 0; Durrett 1-1, 0-0, 2; Tyler 0-2, 0-0, 0. 3-pointers-Stoner.