Horsemen dominant in December

Matt Unrau

The Horsemen basketball team is starting to get used to playing stellar basketball in December. For the second year in a row the Horsemen will celebrate Christmas with an unblemished record standing at 6-0.

“For momentum and confidence it’s nice to go into Christmas break undefeated,” says Coach John Revier.

After polishing off their newly acquired Coffee Cup the Horsemen got back to work last week winning four games including their first conference victory.

They started the week with a solid victory over Class A Hamilton 59-48.

After being tied with Hamilton at halftime 28 all and showing small signs of frustration against a highly disciplined team on offense Plains came out with a vengeance in the third quarter out scoring their opponent 15-8 behind some aggressive play by point guard Dillon Fryxell.

Plains then cruised in the fourth quarter squelching a small run by Hamilton for the win.

“It feels pretty good especially when it’s Hamilton,” says Senior Brian Green who finished with 11 points in the contest. “They’re highly rated.”

Senior Trent Thompson scored 18 points and Bryce Benson scored 12 for the Horsemen.

On Friday night Plains then went down a Class by playing Hot Springs at home. It was the second and third quarter where the Horsemen did most of their damage holding Hot Springs to just four points in the second and outscoring them 19-11 in the third quarter leading them to a 54-38 victory.

“We live and die by our defense,” says Green who finished with 11 points in the game. Thompson led Plains with 16 points and Fryxell also scored 11. Green has been especially happy with his defense after they held a high scoring Bluehawks team to 27 points in the Coffee Cup.

Not only did the boys Varsity win against Hamilton, but it was a clean sweep as both the Freshmen and the JV team also sent Hamilton home with losses.

On Saturday the team then played Darby and dominated the game from start to finish for a 79-44 victory after starting the game with a 22-1 run.

Nine players from the Horsemen scored led by Thompson with 21 points and Fryxell with 18 points.

On Monday night Plains finally had a chance to open up conference play as they hosted Troy.

After watching the Trotters win their first game of the year, Plains came out roaring using a stifling full court press to start the game with a 10-0 run leading to a 19-11 first quarter lead.

In the second quarter Troy battled back closing within double digits until Fryxell sank a three pointer from the wing at the buzzer to give Plains a 38-26 lead at halftime.

However the second half belonged solely to Plains as they outscored the Trojans 30-13 for a 68-49 victory. Fryxell led the Horsemen with 18 points. Thompson and Green both had double doubles with 14 points and 13 rebounds for Thompson and 13 points and 10 rebounds for Green. Benson also chipped in 12 points for the Horsemen.

Fryxell has been dominant at the point guard for the Horsemen lately as he has led Plains’ defense and has found his way to the basket at will against opponents.

“His defense he’s quick he’s doing really good at defense. he’s finishing at the hole. He’s just so athletic,” says Revier.

Christmas break will give the Horsemen time to further work out any kinks as they prepare to battle for a consecutive Conference Championship against Bigfork who tied them for first place in the preseason rankings.

Green says they’ll be working on not forcing the ball inside when it’s not there. Once the ball enters the paint many other teams pack in the zone as they’re keyed on trying to stop Thompson from scoring.

Coach Revier continues to emphasize better decision making for his team.

“We got to take better care with the ball. we’re careless with it sometime,” says Revier. “It’s definitely a work in progress.”

Although they’ll have a few weeks to relax, the return of basketball for Plains starts with their first showdown with Bigfork on Jan. 7. Although it can be worrisome to jump into a big game like that after the break Coach Revier expects it to motivate his team to practice harder and stay focused over the long break.

“They’re the team to beat. if we want to win the league and get the number one seed we have to go through them,” says Revier. “The kids are ready to play, they want to have a good season, they want to go to state. They are ready to work for it.”