Plains stays in mix at top of 7B

Two games against two largely different opponents and a split of those two games.

That’s typical of the Western 7B conference basketball battles going on this year.

Take, for example, Plains’ games this past weekend against Mission and Eureka, both road games for the Horsemen.

They started the mini-odyssey with a stop in St. Ignatius and a game against the Bulldogs who were still in search of their first win of the 2023-24 season. Plains made them wait another day as the Horsemen scratched out a 57-49 win, dropping the Dogs to 0-9 on the year and 0-2 in 7B play.

The next night the bus rolled into Eureka where the 6-2 overall, 3-0 conference Lions were waiting. The Lions won that one, 57-46.

Plains came into the weekend sporting a somewhat surprising 6-4 season mark. They left Eureka with a 7-5 record, including a 4-3 conference record, good for second place. Overall they are tied with Thompson Falls, which sits atop the 7B.

Of course, Eureka, following their win over Plains, is also 4-0 in the conference and has an 8-2 overall mark.

Confused? Welcome to the club.

It has been an up and down world in the Western 7B this year, which can be interpreted to mean “wide open” race?

At any rate, that will all get sorted out in the next few weeks as the teams steady and ready themselves for playoff possibilities.

For now, Plains recorded the win over 0-8 Mission in what was a tight battle up to the fourth quarter.

The Horsemen stepped out of the first quarter clinging to a 17-16 lead over the Bulldogs, who then outscored Plains 5-3 in a defense-dominated second quarter to take a 21-20 halftime lead.

Nothing changed in the third quarter when both teams scored 16 points, giving the home team a 33-32 win with one quarter to play.

In the fourth, Plains found a way to pull methodically ahead of Mission and walk away with an 11-point victory.

Spanish exchange student Pablo Hernandez scored 19 points to lead the Horsemen, who also got 17 points from senior forward Anaya Lobert and nine from guard Darren Standeford.

Lex LaFrombois paced the Bulldogs with a game high 21 points.

The next night in Eureka was a similar yet different night.

The home-standing Lions grabbed a 17-11 lead after one quarter of play, then added five to that margin for a 31-20 halftime advantage.

Plains took one point off that lead in the third quarter, but Eureka added it back in the fourth quarter to preserve their halftime edge.

The Lions had three players score in double figures, topped by Braden Casazza’s 19 points. Tristan Butts pitched in 14 for the Lions, who also got 13 from Jacob Lane.

Standeford led the Horsemen with 15 points and Loberg contributed 10.

Plains traveled to Whitefish this past Monday (Jan 22), then returns to the road this Friday (Jan 26) for a game against Alberton. The Horsemen play at home this Saturday evening against Troy.