Horsemen continue to learn and grow on court

PLAINS – The Horsemen played against Eureka at home Saturday night. The boys gave it their all but lost with a final score of 62-76.

It was an all-around good effort from the Horsemen with eight players putting up numbers. Head Coach Russ Baker said it was good to see.

Aaron Baker had 13 points and 10 rebounds. Ryan Ovitt had 10 points and six assists and Trent Brouillette had 10 points and five assists.

In addition, Kyle Revier had nine points and James Rulison had eight. Wyatt Winebrenner had five points and had nine rebounds.

Unfortunately, half of the Horsemen’s points were put up in the fourth quarter and by then it was too late. There was already a significant deficit and the boys did not have time to catch up.

“Eureka shot the ball real well all night. Their percentage had to be twice ours,” Coach Baker said.

According to Coach Baker, consistency is what cost Plains the game and it is something they need to work on.

“They have to be more consistent with their scoring,” he said. “They go a long time between buckets and that is what happened in the third quarter. Pretty soon you can’t catchup.”

Another problem Plains faced was fouling out. Revier and Rulison were forced to sit out part of the game due to fouls.

Fouls caused the Horsemen problems in another way. According to Coach Baker, his team is shooting less than 50 percent from the foul line. Against Eureka the Horsemen made five out of 13 foul shots making a game percentage of 38 percent. Eureka made 20 out of 27 from the foul line.

Plains also struggled in their game against Loyola. The final score was 36-66 but Coach Baker thinks the boys played well defensively despite the tough match-up.

“Those are the boys that won State in football. They are athletic boys,” Coach Baker said.

The aggressive play of the football State Champs was difficult for the Horsemen to cope with.

“The secret to beating [Loyola] is being able to handle their full court pressure and we did not handle it. That was the difference,” Coach Baker said.

In spite of the loss, Coach Baker is particularly pleased with a couple of the players.

Rulison had 10 points and was the leading scorer. According to Coach Baker, Brouillette played well defensively in both games.

Plains played better the second half against Eureka.

Coach Baker said they really need to work on consistency and scoring points evenly throughout the game. They also need to work on turnovers.

“We need to not turnover the ball so many times. They lost over 20 buckets in turnovers,” he said.

Every loss is a learning experience. The Horsemen will need to learn and rally for their next pair of games.

The Horsemen will play Thompson Falls on Thursday and Hot Springs on Saturday. Coach Baker believes his team will match up well against the county rivals.

“I think they will fare well this week,” he said. “They know these are two games they can win if they play well.”