Horsemen heating up

Senior guard Jeff Revier of Plains drives past Zack Malinak during a 55-40 win.

Carson Lilja sees an open Tanner Ostrum on the baseline during a showdown with Hot Springs on Friday night.

Dave Cross and Tanner Ostrum get into position for the rebound during a freew-throw attempt.

by Mike Miller
| December 22, 2010 10:07 AM

Carson Lilja sees an open Tanner Ostrum on the baseline during a showdown with Hot Springs on Friday night.

Dave Cross and Tanner Ostrum get into position for the rebound during a freew-throw attempt.

With a pair of wins over the weekend the Horsemen extended their winning streak to three games. First, Plains up-ended Hot Springs, 55-40, on Friday and then on Saturday, they out-lasted Darby, 67-54.

On Friday, the District 7-B Horsemen beat their non-conference rival, District 14-C Savage Heat, for the second time in less than a week.

In the contest, Junior guard Brandyn Smith and senior forward Andrew Baker each got their first start of the season.

“I just wanted to mix it up a little bit,” Horsemen head coach Cory Ovitt said. “This team is really even as far as talent level, which is nice. I’ve got a deep bench. I can go all the way to the end of it and not really lose a step.”

“You could see different lineups every week,” he added. “I don’t really want to, I want to try to get one picked.”

After trailing 6-7 at the end of the first quarter, Plains exploded with a 19 point second quarter while holding Hot Springs to just five points giving them a 25-12 half-time edge. Taylor Firestone scored 10 of his team-high 19 points in the quarter..

Hot Springs battled back in the third, cutting their deficit to 36-29 by the start of the fourth, but Plains poured it on in the final quarter.

After leading scorers Zack Malinak, 23 points, and Cody Hoff, eight, fouled out, the Horsemen coasted to the victory.

Seniors Carson Lilja and Baker chipped in with seven and six points respectively.

On Saturday, the Horsemen successfully defended their home court for the second straight night, this time knocking off Darby in another pre-season contest.

Plains had their best offensive game to date, scoring a season-high 67 points while surpassing Darby in each quarter.

Although pleased with the wins, Ovitt believes his team still has a long way to go before reaching their potential.

“They just can’t quite push it to that bigger lead where you’re a lot safer. They keep it close enough where teams start to come back and I have to call timeout and talk to them a little bit and then they push it back up,” he said. “Experience is all it is. They’ll get better as the season goes along.”

He mentioned the defense needed to improve in intensity, and he would like to see the Horsemen cut down on some mental mistakes.

“All in all, I was pretty pleased with this weekend. They’re coming along,” Ovitt said.