On Wednesday, the members of the Prairie boys basketball team thought they would be playing their third game in three days.
Instead, the Falcons found themselved playing their third game in the month since the season began.
And it showed in a 64-50 loss to Reynolds of Troutdale, Ore.
“I thought we played three quarters of good basketball,” Prairie coach Jimmy Tuominen said. “We just had that spurt of eight minutes when we definitely didn’t play our best, and that was the difference.”
The Falcons used a 17-4 run to take a 28-16 lead on Bailey Kousonsavath’s 3-pointer with about five minutes left in the second quarter.
Then Prairie went cold and Reynolds turned up the defensive pressure, allowing the Pirates to score the game’s next 23 points to go up 39-28.
“We have a pretty young, and I feel like we’re still learning how to handle pressure,” senior Hayden Rose said. “I think we’re getting better every day in practice. That’s just one of those things that comes with experience, so it was good to see that so we can get better.”
Rose scored eight on Prairie’s nine third-quarters points to keep the Falcons close.
The Falcons fought their way back within 51-45 with 5:36 left and had the ball.
But Reynolds’ defense forced another turnover and stretched its lead back to 57-47 to seal the win away.
Both Reynolds and Prairie were supposed to be participants in the Clark County Holiday Invitational, which Prairie was a co-host. But winter weather wiped out games on Monday and Tuesday.
Wednesday’s matchup was Prairie’s first game since Dec. 20 and only the Falcons’ third game of the season.
“It felt good to play,” said Rose, who had a game-high 21 points. “It’s been tough not having all of our players at practices, and then games getting canceled a couple of hours before we’re supposed to play. It’s tough mentally for everyone.”
And now the Falcons must turn the page and get ready for their 3A Greater St. Helens League opener against Kelso in a week.
“The fact that we got to play another game before league to find out who we are and what we need to work on was really important,” Tuominen said. “We’re going to take tonight as a learning experience and try to get better so that when we play Kelso next Wednesday we can give ourselves a chance to get our first league win.”
REYNOLDS 64, PRAIRIE 50
REYNOLDS — Kevari Kaz 7, Jovany Guzman 15, Alex Hendrickson 12, Steve Koval 8, Edward Dixon 6, Yahir Dominguez 0, Blake Kobas 0, Kevin Yang 0, Miles Baldwin 6, Rodney Hollowell 7, Abraham Duran 3, Oswaldo Lopez 0. Totals 25 (7) 7-15 64.
PRAIRIE — A.J. Burke 0, Bailey Kousonsavath 10, Tyson Davis 3, Hayden Rose 21, Brendan Carter 3, Dominick Vigue 0, Drew Martin 5, Talus Sather 8, Pierson Lameh 0. Totals 16 (4) 14-22 50.
Reynolds 12 12 21 19—64
Prairie 15 13 9 13—50
