PRESCOTT — With Prescott sitting atop the Middle Border Conference at 5-1 and Ellsworth gunning for the top spot at 4-2, it was no secret to either squad that the Jan. 21 matchup in Prescott …
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PRESCOTT — With Prescott sitting atop the Middle Border Conference at 5-1 and Ellsworth gunning for the top spot at 4-2, it was no secret to either squad that the Jan. 21 matchup in Prescott was going to be one to remember.
Straight from the opening tip, both teams were knocking down huge shots like it was the final minutes of the game. Prescott junior Kobe Russell was getting it done in the scoring department which allowed the Cardinals to take a few slim leads. It was junior Omar Coulson of Ellsworth who kept the game within reach with some clutch buckets to keep the Prescott lead to 23-21 with five minutes left in the first.
The Cardinals got hot at the right time in the first half, going on a lengthy run to close the half with a 38-28 lead. Russell had 21 points in the half.
The pace of play picked up in the second with both teams raging up and down the court. Russell drew a lot of defensive gravity after the strong half, opening windows for some of his teammates.
“He freed up a lot of guys ‘cause the attention he was receiving because he played so well the first half,” Prescott head coach Nick Johnson said. “When he plays within himself and doesn’t rush and doesn’t force and stuff like that, he’s so good. He’s so athletic, he defends so well.”
The score was pushed to 48-37 in Prescott’s favor with 13 minutes to play when Ellsworth started to find its footing. Ellsworth’s posts got a bit more involved and the lead was quickly cut to just 54-52 with 7:30 to play.
Prescott senior Teddy Bernick had seen enough of the Panther run, drilling a triple to push the score to 57-52. Ellsworth got it back to one when Bernick struck again, 60-56. With four minutes to play, Ellsworth took the Cardinal lead back down to one and Bernick said here, take another three. His third three in a three-minute stretch got Prescott a 63-59 lead.
“I just tried to get open as much as possible, and when I was, just shoot it,” Bernick said. “Kobe had like 20 in the first half, so I tried to set him more screens knowing that I would also get open more.”
The final minutes were a free throw contest, with three makes from Bernick delivering the final blow in a 70-63 win. He finished the game with 18 points on 5-10 shooting from beyond the arc.
“The kid just knocks down big shots,” Johnson said. “He’s been so good for us this year. He’s been one of the most impressive kids I’ve been with on the team all year. And not just again because he’s knocking down shots, his defense has been excellent. He’s kind of a kid who’s waited his turn until his senior year.”
Coming off back-to-back one-point losses where the offense scored under 50 both nights, the win was an important one for Prescott. Defense has not been the issue of late for the Cardinals, as offensive ball control has not come easily.
“It was obviously a back-and-forth battle, which we expected,” Johnson said. “For us to bounce back like this, it’s a huge win just not for tonight, but for the rest of the season. We just needed to play well.”
Bernick said it’s going to be all about the fundamentals as the season rolls on.
“The games that we’ve lost recently is when we don’t take care of the basketball. We beat ourselves,” Johnson said. “Just from tonight’s game I thought we didn’t. Sure, we had some costly turnovers, but nothing like it’s been the last couple weeks.”
Defense travels in the playoffs, as Bernick put it, and Prescott’s defense has not let the fans down. Ellsworth poses a different challenge than many teams, frequently playing a pair of post players at the same time. Johnson said this is a mismatch for the Cardinals, but they handled it well.
“We are extremely undersized against them,” Johnson said. “We want to hang our hat on our man-to-man defense, and it does obviously present some problems going against big kids like that… We executed out gameplan pretty well.”
The key for the Cardinals was throwing different looks like quick double teams and making mid-game adjustments. Johnson gave high praise to the Ellsworth team, saying the Panthers are well-rounded from guards that can shoot to the physical bigs and that they are also well-coached.
From Ellsworth’s perspective, head coach Derek Staley felt the team did not take charge like they should have out of the gate. This allowed the home crowd to get involved, motivating the Cardinals further.
“I thought we played just too passive, especially in the first half,” Staley said. “They kind of punched us in the mouth and we didn’t handle it very well after the first 10 minutes.”
Between multiple overtime games, hostile environments and plenty of games coming down to the final minutes, Ellsworth has already gotten a taste of what the playoffs will be like this season.
“That’s what playoffs are going to be like,” Staley said. “They’re going to be tough environments. They’re going to be whoever executes at the end of games, who makes good decisions. That’s what it’s going to be like, so hopefully it prepares us for those situations.
“The kids are never going to quit, that’s what it says about them,” Staley said. “They’re going to keep battling no matter what. They’re all heart.”