PRESCOTT — Prescott junior Gabe Turner started the year on the junior varsity roster. Making his presence felt in practice every day, the six-foot-one forward found his way onto the varsity squad and saw a few minutes of varsity action. He then made every minute count and secured a starting spot. His first home start was a rivalry game against none other than the neighboring Ellsworth Panthers on Feb. 5.

Turner took the court looking to make sure it was more than just a happy story for himself and the Cardinals, leading the team with 17 points in a 63-50 win.

“Gabe is one of those great stories. He was gone his freshman year, and then he comes back last year and he was injured all year, so we never got a good look at him. We didn’t really know much about him as a basketball player, I mean he’s a phenomenal kid, we know that. So, then we eased him in at JV this year and he played really, really well. It got to a point we thought we needed more offense, another kind of a guy who can offer that one-two punch, plays well down low and, obviously, he can shoot it really well,” Prescott Head Coach Nick Johnson said. “Just happy for him. He’s never once said anything about moving off JV to varsity. Just went about his business.”

After a 16-3 Cardinal run to end the first half, Prescott led 36-24 ahead of the final 18 minutes of play. It was only a matter of time before Ellsworth made their counterpunch, so Prescott had to be ready. The Panthers wasted no time getting that run, tying the game at 41 a piece with 10 minutes remaining.

“We came out and we kind of rushed ourselves. We took some bad shots, made some poor decisions. They’re too good of a team to do that against,” Johnson said. “You knew they were going to come and make a run.”

With a 48-46 lead and just over five minutes left on the clock, Turner cashed a triple from the top of the key. On the following possession, Turner got the ball on the left block, battled through two Panthers and banked in an and-one that would put Prescott up 53-46 and be enough to seal the game.

“Shot felt good. They brought me up to varsity, I started the season playing JV. They brought me up to shoot. Just rip it, have confidence in myself,” Turner said. “A lot of emotions. They had a 13-0 run, just had to punch back.”

Johnson said they have blown some sizable leads in conference play, so winning a game where they felt the pushback but held on is important mentally.

“It’s awesome… It’s always just a fun game, it doesn’t matter [team] records or nothing like that,” Johnson said. “Doing it for 15 years, it’s great. It’s great to win a game, but it always means a little more to beat them. Especially a team who I feel is just a really good team.”

For Turner, leading the team in a win over Ellsworth is something he will remember for a long time.

“It means everything. You know rivals, always want to beat them, always got a lot of hatred for them,” Turner said. “It just gives us the confidence. We want to go to the Kohl Center, get the job done.”

Prescott and Ellsworth are holding down the fourth and fifth Middle Border Conference spots out of eight teams with 6-4 and 4-6 league records.