The Prescott Cardinals defeated the Ellsworth Panthers in Ellsworth on Tuesday night by a score of 67-46. It was a game that got out of hand early for the Panthers, as Prescott jumped out to a big lead in the first half of period one.

Parker Woodland won the tip off for the Panthers, but it was Prescott who scored first on a three-pointer from Ian Leask. This was the first of two in a row from the perimeter for Leask, who also added on a breakaway layup for two more and scored all eight of the game’s first points in the process.

With the Cardinals taking an immediate three-score lead, the Panthers burned a timeout early to try to get back on track. Unfortunately for the home team, Prescott kept putting up deep shots, and just past midperiod, Ellsworth was looking at a 27-4 deficit.

This time, however, when the Panthers took a timeout, things changed dramatically. From that point forward, the Panthers went shot for shot with the Cardinals the rest of the period.

Woodland started off this stretch for Ellsworth by pushing downhill and kicking the ball to the outside where George Rohl hit a beauty from beyond the arc. The Cardinals answered with a two-point jump shot from Max Monteith, and both teams were off to the races.

Rohl got two more for the Panthers and Max Schommer answered with a three for Prescott. The Cardinals put up four more, and Panther Guard Noah Matzek drained a three from the middle right side of the perimeter.

Things kept going back and forth, point for point. Both teams shot nearly even with each other in the back half of the period, with the Cardinals having a slight edge at 16-14. The Panthers had stopped the bleeding, but the game still went into the half with Prescott up 43-18.

Prescott struck first in the second period on a three-pointer by Dallas Wallin from so far outside the corner of the arc that he was nearly out of bounds. They kept it going too, going on an 11-2 run punctuated by Leask’s fifth three-pointer of the game.

That’s when Woodland scored twice in a row for the Panthers, hitting a two-point jump shot and then following it up with a fastbreak for a slam dunk. The Panthers continued this success, picking up four from the line and two more on a fast break from Omar Coulson.

Kobe Russell broke things up for the Cardinals, pulling in a nice steal that sent the ball back the other way, but the Cardinals were unfortunately unable to capitalize after Panther forward Braydon Anderson came up with a nice block. Cardinal Teddy Bernick would still be the one to score the next points in the game, hitting a three from the left side.

With just over 6:00 to play, a Coulson combination steal and fastbreak moved the score to 64-31. The Panthers were able to turn this momentum into a nice burst to close out the game, going on a 15-3 run to bring the final score to 67-46. Highlights from this streak were a five-point swing off two nice jump shots by Rohl and a three-pointer by Panther guard Derek Johnson.

Panthers Head Coach Derek Staley says they need to be smarter defensively this week and move the ball better.

“We did not help ourselves defensively, but they also did not miss shots in the first 24 minutes of the game. After they cooled down, it was too late for us,” Staley said. “We have seen vast improvement on both sides of the ball, but we have not put it together for a full game. I look forward to when we can put it together on both sides of the ball and sustain it.”

The Panthers will have two chances this week to do just that when they face a duo of Middle Border opponents, but they will have to do it on the road. Tuesday they travel to Hammond to play St. Croix Central, and on Friday they will be hosted by Altoona. Both of those games tip off at 7 p.m.

Cardinals Head Coach Nick Johnson says he feels like they played a great game, both offensively and defensively, but they need to continue striving to improve. 

“We're going to need to continue to play great defense against Osceola and Somerset. They both are very good teams, and both could be low scoring games,” Johnson said. “Our offense needs to be more consistent throughout the games. We need to continue to get scoring from a variety of players.”

Next up for the Cardinals are the aforementioned conference rivals. First on tap is the first-place 9-3 Osceola Chieftains, who they will play at home on Tuesday, and then it’s the fourth-place 10-4 Somerset Spartans, who they will face on the road Friday. Both of those games tip off at 7 p.m.

Prescott is currently one game back of Osceola, which means that if they beat the Chieftains, they would move into a first-place tie. Winning both games would solidify that position at the top of the conference. 

Big Rivers update

The River Falls Wildcats didn’t play last week, but they will make up for lost time with a busy four-game slate this coming week.

With all but one of those game coming in the form of non-conference matches, they won’t have the opportunity to gain much ground on the first-place Eau Claire Memorial Old Abes who are currently two games ahead of the Wildcats.

The games begin on Tuesday when River Falls hosts the La Crosse Logan Rangers and continue when they travel to Chippewa Falls to play the Cardinals. Both of those games tip off at 7:15 p.m.

From there, they go across the border to face Edina on Saturday to play the Hornets at 1 p.m., and finally they will return home for their final non-conference match against the Prescott Cardinals, who currently hold first place in the Middle Border Conference.

The game against the 1-9 Chippewa Falls Cardinals is the lone Big Rivers opponent they will face this week ahead of what amounts to a must win game on the road next week against the Eau Claire Memorial Old Abes.

As of now, the Abes hold a two-game lead in the Big Rivers and one of the Wildcats’ two conference losses is to them. If the Wildcats win, they would get a game back and even the season score after a tough loss in overtime after the biggest comeback in Head Coach Zac Campell’s tenure.

Essentially, with a win, River Falls is one game back in the conference, and a loss makes it very difficult for the Wildcats. That said, it’s only midseason, and a lot could happen yet, especially when you consider strength of schedule.

From here on out, the Old Abes have a notably more difficult schedule than the Wildcats as they play every one of the top 5 teams behind them nearly consecutively over the next couple weeks. In contrast, River Falls finishes the season facing the bottom five teams because they’ve had a less favorable schedule than Memorial thus far. Granted, in an eight-team conference, there is some overlap, but it will be an interesting storyline to watch as the regular season comes to a close.

Things are heating up for the Wildcats, and it should be a lot of fun to watch right down to the very end.