Horsemen earn No. 3 seed in district tourney

Things are looking up, as in up the conference standings ladder, for the Plains Horsemen basketball team.

The boys split a pair of home games this weekend, falling to Western 7B conference regular season champ Eureka 66-38 Friday night, then rebounding for a 60-53 win over St. Ignatius Saturday evening.

The two wins gave the Horsemen a 5-5 conference record as they closed out the 2023-24 conference regular season schedule, landing them in third place, behind leader Eureka (10-0) and second place Thompson Falls (8-2) with the district tournament this coming weekend at Mission High School in St. Ignatius.

The Horsemen opened their final week of the regular season schedule with a home game against the unbeaten (league play) Lions from Eureka. The visitors seemed anxious to show why they are the league leaders, jumping out to a 21-2 lead after one quarter of play.

They upped their lead to 33-10 at the half as their tall, athletic roster took control.

Eureka added to their lead in the third quarter and entered the fourth quarter ahead 50-22.

The two teams traded baskets in the final quarter as the Lions put the finishing touches on their unbeaten league season. They are 14-3 overall this year.

Senior forward Anaya Loberg led Plains with 13 points.

Saturday night the boys from Mission came to Plains in what shaped up as a back and forth battle from the opening tip off.

Plains came out of the first quarter with a 14-13 lead, but St. Ignatius outscored the Horsemen 19-15 in the second quarter to take a 32-29 lead at the half.

Plains came out in the third quarter and turned the tide of the game with their defense and solid offensive production. They out-pointed the Bulldogs 20-10 in the the third quarter to take back the lead, 49-42, heading into the final eight minutes of play.

The two teams battled back and forth, resulting in an 11-11 stalemate in the fourth quarter as the Horsemen held on to their lead.

Loberg and Pablo Hernandez scored 18 points each to lead Plains to the win. The weekend split left them with a 5-5 conference mark and an 11-7 overall record heading into the District 7B championships this weekend.

In the 7B play-in games today (Tuesday) Plains boys take on Troy in Plains at 5:30 p.m.

    Plains junior forward Pablo Hernandez launches a three-pointer during the Horsmen's game against Eureka Friday night in Plains (Courtesy photo)