Great rebound

Whatever the Plains Horsemen discussed in their Monday meeting after the District Tournament worked wonders.

After barely making it out of Districts and finishing with an embarrassing loss to Thompson Falls in the consolation round, the Horsemen rebounded in remarkable fashion at the Divisional Tournament, winning four games in a row and falling one good quarter shy of making it to the state tournament.

“Overall there wasn’t a whole lot that we could have done better, except go to state,” says Senior Trent Thompson. “We won three straight. Overall it was a good showing. I was pleased with the effort.”

It was a tough road from the start for the Horsemen who were forced to play the second ranked team in the state, Florence for their opening game.

Even though they gave Florence all they could handle for the first three quarters of the game and having three Horsemen in double figures in the scoring column they dropped the game, 55-68.

It was Thompson and Bryce Benson who had 13 points a piece for Plains followed closely by Brian Green who had 11.

The loss dropped them immediately into the losers’ bracket and gave them and even more daunting challenge, the prospect of having to win four games in the next three days in order to make it to state.

“After we got beat by Florence, our goal was to make it to the challenge game and play at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday,” says Coach John Revier. “That’s what they wanted and they got it. They just fell short.”

Thier first loser out game was against Deer Lodge and Thompson with 24 points and Dillon Fryxell with 15 points made sure that Plains kept their state tournament hopes alive in a 57-54 win.

The win against Deer Lodge set up a rematch with a familiar foe for the Horsemen. Bigfork who had beaten them twice earlier in the year for their only two losses in the regular season had lost to Loyola in an exhausting overtime thriller on Thursday night now had to turn around and play Plains on Friday morning.

Even though they had lost to them twice before Thompson says they now had the advantage in the rematch.

“Not only we were better prepared because we had played them twice, but they were pretty tired from playing the night before,” says Thompson.

Bigfork was still up to the challenge as the game was tied 29 at half and Plains was up only four points at the end of the third. However it was Plains this time that answered the challenge in the fourth quarter that featured a highlight reel drive and dish from Fryxell to Thompson for a drop step dunk that put Plains up by eight points.

Plains was then able to withstand a late rally and finally beat Bigfork when it mattered most, 61-60. Thompson led Plains with 22 points in the game followed by Green’s 13 points.

The close games were not over for Plains as they battled Valley Christian in the consolation game that saw the lead switch hands with each possession in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter.

As the time ran down Valley Christian took a one point lead on a driving layup with 11 seconds left in the game.

Plains then called timeout and drew up a play for Thompson to get the ball in the block and win the game as Coach Revier emphasized to his players that they had plenty of time.

However as Plains drove down the floor Thompson was double teamed, so Green threw it to their second option, sharp shooter Kyle Hermiston who was lined up on Thompson’s side. As Hermiston caught the ball he drove the lane shooting a 12-foot leaner that hit the front of the rim and looked like it was going to be no good until miraculously it popped forward and in the basket giving Plains the one-point win on Hermiston’s only made field goal of the game.

“That’s a good senior leadership to step up with the game on the line and take the shot even though he hadn’t had a good game up to that point,” says Coach Revier.

The win followed by an overtime win by Florence later that night gave Plains the chance that they wanted, a challenge game that would decide who went to the state tournament.

Plains looked good early the next day against Loyola as a big crowd from Plains came out to support their team and would’ve nearly blown the gym down if a layup by Green had gone in after he blocked a three point shot by Loyola a mile into the air and was fouled hard in the layup attempt.

Foul trouble in the second quarter evened up the contest for Loyola who fought back to only be down four points at halftime. Hermiston’s hot shooting continued as he shot 2-2 at three point range in the first half.

After halftime Loyola came out determined as they collected the first eight points in the quarter. This was answered by a 7-0 run by Thompson to put Plains back up by three.

The game stayed close until midway through the fourth quarter during a period when the Loyola offense gained traction and the Plains offense stalled that eventually gave Loyola the game, 65-51.

“There was a three or four-minute period where we stood out there and just threw the ball around and totally stopped us dead in our tracks,” says Thompson.

Coach Revier credits the Horsemen and says that fatigue set in during the Loyola game, which was their fifth game in four days.

“If we had the extra rest and not played until Monday it might have been a different story,” says Coach Revier.

Thompson who had a team-high 22 points against Loyola followed by Green’s 10 points can attest to the high fatigue. After playing Valley Christian on Friday night he took an ice bath and another one the next morning to get the soreness out of his muscles.

He also says he lost 8-10 pounds during the four-day period.

“I’ve gained a couple pounds back since then, but most of it I just sweated out. It was just water weight,” says Thompson. “Right now I’m just recuperating. Five games in four days takes a lot out of you.”