Prescott Head Coach Nick Johnson's Cardinals had an up and down regular season, even though it was mostly up with a 16-8 regular season record and a second-place Middle Border Conference finish.

Good coaches, however, don't make excuses, and Coach Johnson isn't about to start. However, covering the Cardinals looking from outside in, isn't doesn't take a genius to see what the hurdles were.

Four-year varsity player, senior Barrett Temmers, broke his leg in a playoff football game during the fall. Temmers gutted out six games at the end of the season and looked like he was playing at about 60 percent. Junior Max Monteith had a slight labrum tear in his shoulder all season. Junior Kobe Russell, a both ends of the court beast, dealt with ankle and Achilles' tendon issues and junior sharpshooter Jackson Matzek was limited to just 13 games.        

The Cardinals knocked off conference-leader Osceola but then lost two games to Baldwin-Woodville, who finished 8-17 on the year.

"You want to be playing your best basketball at the end of the year, though," said Coach Johnson, "and we were with Barrett back. He's just such a solid player and he's been in big games and on varsity for four years."

Coach Johnson is a glass is half full kind of a guy.

"Those injuries forced Emmett Otto to step up," said Johnson. "He is going to be one heck of a player. He was fantastic Friday night."

Otto, a 6'0" sophomore guard, scored a career-high 22 points on 9 of 12 shooting including 3 of 3 from three-point land against Baldwin-Woodville and helped to avenge two regular season losses against the Blackhawks.

"They (Baldwin-Woodville) like to play ahead," said Johnson, "and we just played great defense, and we shot the ball so well."

The Cardinals have had a penchant for slow starts for much of the season and Friday was no different. Prescott was down 11-4 to start the game but closed out the first half on a 21-4 run for the 25-15 lead heading into the locker room.

"It does seem like every single game we fell behind at the start," said Johnson.

The second half was all Prescott, as the capacity crowd saw their Cardinals put up 40 points in the second stanza enroute to a 65-39 win in the Region Semi-Final.

Junior forward Eyan Miller scored 10 points on 5 of 9 shooting and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. Junior Kobe Russell notched double digits with 10 points and totaled six rebounds and two blocks.

The Cardinals shot 55 percent inside the arc and 39 percent from three to advance to the Region Finals against Amery.

"Those two Amery brothers are two of the top four players in the conference," said Johnson. "We really tried to put our focus on making it tough on them and we did."

The Amery brothers are 6'3" senior guard Carter Wollan and his 6'3" sophomore brother, Keaton. Carter is averaging 30 points per game and has just under 2,500 career points. He's had multiple 50-point games and is headed to UW-La Crosse next year. Keaton is averaging 21 points per game. Together, the two Wollan brothers are scoring 51 points of their team's 70 points per game on the season.

During the season, Prescott went 1-1 against the Warriors. In the 77-54 Cardinal win on Jan. 10, the Wollan brothers were held to a total of 34 points. In the Cardinals’ 67-49 loss to Amery on Feb. 13, the Wollan brothers pumped in 44 points.

Saturday night at Prescott, both Carter and Keaton Wollan totaled just 28 points.

"If you look at the stats, you'd think there's no way Prescott loses," said Johnson. "But you have to put the ball in the hoop, and we just couldn't do it."

Once again, the Cardinals’ engine was sputtering at the tip, as they found themselves in a 10-1 hole to start the game, but a Teddy Bernick three at the halftime buzzer had Prescott trailing by just one at the half.

"They jumped out to a 10-point lead in the first four minutes in the second half," said Johnson. "Every time we had a hurdle to get over like needing one rebound or one put back, we just couldn't get over that hurdle."

With just under 8 minutes left, sophomore Emmett Otto heated up. Otto drilled a trifecta of threes down the stretch and brought the Cardinals back within one on two occasions.

"The atmosphere in our gym, both nights, was awesome," said Johnson. "We had great crowds, and I was so happy with how much support our town gave us."

Otto was 3 of 5 from long distance against the Amery zone. The rest of the Cardinals were 4 of 25 (16%).

"We had good looks, wide open threes, mid-range, around the rim," said Johnson. "They just didn't go in tonight."

With just under 30 seconds left, Prescott missed a short, contested lay-up. They snared two consecutive offensive rebounds, and both put backs rolled off the rim.

But as rough as the shooting was for the Cardinals, their defense was equally tough and that's what kept them in the game with a chance to win it.

With a few ticks left on the clock, the Warriors were at the line up by one and at the free throw line.

"During the time out, I told the team they're going to miss the free throw and we're not going to call a timeout and give them a chance to set up back in that zone," said Johnson. "Just get the ball to Kobe and get down the floor and get a good shot."

Johnson's hopeful prediction rang true. The Warrior free throw missed, and Russell raced down the middle of the court.

"He (Russell) got a great look," said Johnson.

Russell's three at the top of the key bounced harmlessly off the rim as time expired and Amery celebrated with a 47-46 to advance to the Section Semi-Finals.

The Warriors will take on Northwestern at Altoona on Thursday, March 13.

"It is frustrating because this year is so wide open in our bracket," said Johnson. "There are 24 teams and 14 can make a run at it. We can beat all those teams, but that's March Madness when it's one-game elimination. I don't want to take anything away from Amery, though, they're a good team."