Junior high Horsemen take 2 in final games
Photo by Ed Moreth<br>Plains Horseman Eric Rummel makes his way around Thompson Falls Bluehawk Garrett Reinschmidt during a junior high game Saturday at Plains, where the Horsemen won 27-22.
The junior high Plains Horsemen basketball team won two nail-biters on their home floor against the Thompson Falls Bluehawks and the Noxon Red Devils Saturday to improve to a 9-1 record.
In the first game of the double header, the young Horsemen squad defeated the rival Bluehawks in a low-scoring affair, 27-22, avenging their only loss of the season.
Plains drew first blood, but the offense was slowed for much of the quarter, ending with the Horsemen up 6-4 in a high school-type atmosphere, with a good number of fans for both sides on hand for the game.
The second quarter was nearly all Hawks, in which they outscored Plains 10-3 and had a five-point lead heading into halftime, 14-9, with Plains' only basket being scored within the final 10 seconds of the quarter by Robert Earhart.
However, the Horsemen came out fast in the third, and thanks to back-to-back three-pointers by Eric Rummel and Carter Montgomery, cut a seven-point deficit to one by the end of the quarter. The momentum continued into the fourth, where intense defense and well-executed offense fueled a 7-2 run in the fourth quarter, with Rummel sinking a basket inside the final minute to seal the game for the Horsemen.
Next up was the Noxon Red Devils, who nearly pulled off the upset, but were eventually downed 34-30 by the Horsemen.
The first quarter could not have been better for the visitors, or worse for the Plains squad. The Noxon starters came out fast and hot, connecting on shots from all areas and set a furious pace, scoring 16 points in the first quarter to the Horsemen's five. Fatigue from the first game may have factored into the slow start, according to coach Mike Tatum, but Noxon had given them a tough game earlier in the year, and he expected they would come out and play well.
However, in the second quarter Tatum seemed to get his team re-focused and re-energized, as they clawed their way back into the game, scoring 20 points and holding Noxon to a mere six, thanks to good shooting from Earhart, Rummel, and Tanner Ostrom. The score at half was a Horsemen lead, 27-22. The third quarter opened with sloppy play, littered with fouls and little scoring, with Montgomery sinking another three-pointer to highlight the period. However, the Red Devils were still within reach, only down 32-30 as the buzzer sounded.
In the fourth, it was the Horsemen "D" that took care of the game. The Horsemen initiated a full-court press defense, which the Noxon team could not seem to handle, and turned the ball over several times over the final minutes and did not score once. The Plains team then executed a ball control style offense as it ground out the win, scoring only two points in the last quarter, to make the final score 34-30.
The comeback is just another example of what Tatum calls a team who is very confident. "They persevered, just like they have all season. They always have it in their heads that they can win any game, no matter the deficit. It's nice, because that's something you can't coach," Tatum said of his team. "It will be nice going into tournament strong," he added.
In seventh-grade action, the Horsemen split their doubleheader, losing 44-33 to Thompson Falls but winning 25-9 against Noxon.
The Sanders County Basketball Tournament will be held at Plains on Friday and Saturday. The tournament will feature six teams from Sanders County: Plains, Paradise, Hot Springs, Noxon, Trout Creek, and Thompson Falls. The scheduled start times were not available.