Horsemen hit wall
Senior guard Taylor Firestone drives baseline in Saturday's 66-76 loss against Eureka.
Plains Senior Andrew Baker jostles for position with a Eureka player during the Horsemen's loss on Saturday.
Senior guard Jeff Revier scored two of his 14 points in a loss against the Lions on this lay-up.
The Plains Horsemen, 0-3 conf., 3-5 ovr. have yet to hit their stride as they fell in a pair of District 7-B games last week, extending their winless streak to four.
On Friday, Plains traveled to Bigfork and fell to the 4-0, 6-2 Vikings, by a 34-64 mark.
“They are very solid and they have a lot of size,” Horsemen Head Coach Cory Ovitt said. “They kind of have a little bit of everything, they’re fast, they’re big and they’re good shooters.”
Despite the loss, Ovitt was pleased with his team’s effort, specifically their defensive play, especially considering this was their first game back after Christmas break.
“They matched the intensity level, they matched the physical level even though we were out-sized, but we didn’t match them offensively,” Ovitt said.
Ovitt said the Vikings aggressive half-court defense really affected his team, preventing them from getting into their offensive sets and forcing too many turnovers.
Senior guard Taylor Firestone scored 16 points and junior forward Tanner Ostrum added six points in the loss.
For Bigfork, Colter Trent, Ian Lorang and Carter Sorenson were all in double figures with 13, 10 and 10 respectively.
On Saturday, the Horsemen never adjusted to the tight game called by the officials, committing dozens of fouls, including three technicals, giving Eureka an astonishing 66 free throw attempts in their 66-76 loss at home.
Eureka converted their 66 free throws into 38 points, accounting for more than half of their total offensive output. Conversely, Plains connected on 12 of their 21 attempts from the charity stripe.
A number of Horsemen fouled out, including Ostrum who’s fifth foul was called with 1:48 left to play in the third quarter. Brandyn Smith, Firestone and Robert Earhart would join Ostrum on the bench before the game was over.
Despite all the chaos, the Horsemen trailed by only two at halftime, 34-36, and were within six heading into the fourth quarter, 46-52.
Adding injury to insult, senior starting guard Carson Lilja suffered a high ankle sprain in the first quarter. He is expected to sit out for at least two weeks.
“I thought the boys played really well, both offensively and defensively, but we had some mental break-downs that cost us,” Ovitt said. “The rest of the kids stepped up and made up for Carson being gone. And I expect more of the same until he comes back.”
Jeff Revier and Firestone scored 14 points each, leading the Horsemen in the defeat.
For the Lions, sophomore guard Tanner Blankers scored 22 points, including 16-of-18 from the foul line. Bryton Guckenberg added 18 and Ryan Holder tallied 17 as Eureka improved to 3-1, 3-5.
“All in all the kids are finally getting into the kind of shape I want them to be in and they’re pushing the ball really well,” Ovitt said.
The Horsemen will go on the road to face Mission on Thursday before hosting rival Thompson Falls on Friday.