After two big wins, it’s on to WIAA Sectional play for the Prescott Cardinals boys basketball team.

The Cardinals scored wins on their home court over Hayward and Somerset to advance.

The Prescott Cardinals hosted Hayward in their first WIAA Regional tournament game Friday night.. The Hurricanes were 11-13 and finished sixth in the Heart O’North Conference.

Jacob Doffing won the opening tip and got the ball on the block for a post hook before hitting an easy skyhook for the first two points of the game. The Hurricanes answered with two of their own and Parker Nielsen walked up the court and hit a quick threepointer. A few possessions later, Doffing dove to the floor for a loose ball and passed it to a teammate. Doffing rebounded his teammate’s shot and scored the put back. On the other side of the court, Doffing blocked a Hurricane shot against the backboard. Nielsen took the ball up the court and hit another from outside the arc to go ahead 16-8 with 14:00 left in the first half.

Doffing stayed busy all over the court. First, with a finger roll to finish a sweet post move. Next, he set a screen on the perimeter for Nielsen, who connected on another threepointer.

Dylan Malmov hit a three from the corner to put the Cardinals ahead 28-18 with 8:00 remaining in the first stanza. Jacob Doffing grabbed another rebound and passed it Nielsen, who set up Walker Lenz for an easy bucket to take back their 10-point lead, 32-22.

The Hurricanes started to stagger when Mason Holte followed up another Nielsen three-pointer with a rebound put-back. Doffing scored on a nice drop step and Nielsen found the net from long range again after Jordan Malmov set a screen for him on the perimeter and the Cardinals led 47-31 at halftime.

Both teams started the second half slow before the Hurricanes attempted to mount a comeback. The Cardinals lead was cut to 13 when Parker Nielsen drove and found an easy two points. Doffing blocked the next Hurricane shot and his teammates rewarded him with the ball on the other end. Another easy drop step followed by another Doffing block led to Jordan Malmov swishing another three pointer and Prescott was up 58-42 with 10:00 left in the game. The Hurricanes made some adjustments at halftime and found ways to score, but they didn’t have much time to keep their season alive. A big reason the Cardinals didn’t let Hayward within striking distance was sophomore Ben Rohl, who scored all eight of his points in the second half. Rohl scored a pair of points and Doffing blocked another shot and the home team was ahead 70-56 with just 4:00 of play left. Jordan Malmov drove to the lane and found Doffing with a nice pass, who drew a lot of contact from two Hurricane defenders, but the officials didn’t see enough to blow the whistle. Gabe Van-Holbeck hit a nice three from the corner after Nielsen spent some time at the free throw line and Prescott went on to win 81-61.

Nielsen led the Cardinals with 32 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals. Doffing controlled the paint and recorded 19 points, 10 boards, four assists, three blocks and a steal. Jordan Malmov and Ben Rohl each finished with 8 points. Mason Holte finished with four points, eight rebounds and a pair of assists.

The Cardinals shot 10-17 from outside the arc against the Hurricanes.

The next night, Prescott hosted Middle Border Conference opponent Somerset, who defeated Northwestern 58-44 the previous night.

On the first possession, Doffing quickly got to work in the paint and scored a bucket. A couple of empty possessions later, the Spartans tied it up. The Cardinals answered with two more baskets inside before Somerset hit a three-pointer. The Spartans quickly got the ball back and scored on backto- back possessions and found themselves ahead 10-7 with 11:00 left in the first half.

The Cardinals got straight to business and pushed the ball up the court. Jordan Malmov found a lane saw his first shot go in. The Spartans answered with two of their own, but Malmov was just getting started. He quickly hit two shots from outside the arc to take the lead back for the Cardinals. Neither team found the basket for two minutes, but then Somerset took back a lead and made it a 16-15 ballgame. After a deep three-point attempt from a teammate, Parker Nielsen tracked down the rebound and took back the lead with a close shot. With 6:00 left in the half, the Spartans scored two of their own to go ahead 20-19. The Cardinals answered with two, got a rebound and found Malmov deep outside the arc for another three to take a 24-20 lead. Somerset missed a three-point attempt of their own but secured the rebound and finished with a crafty reverse layup. Doffing got fouled while Prescott was in the bonus, but he was unable to connect from the free throw line and Somerset tied the game at the other end of the court.

Jordan Malmov had the hot hand and swished another quick shot from outside the arc. The Spartans answered with a three of their own to tie the game. For the third straight possession, a three pointer fell, this one another for Jordan.

The Cardinal faithful that filled the gym in support for the WIAA Regional Final were witnessing a game to remember.

Nielsen was forced to spend some uncharacteristic time on the bench with two fouls but the freshman Malmov hit his fifth three pointer in less than eight minutes of game action before his aggressive defense forced a loose ball. Once Jordan tipped the ball free, he dove to the ground and scooped it up where the Spartan defender fouled him. After making the front end of the

See CARDINAL BOYS, Page 15

Photo by John McLoone.

Photo by John McLoone. bonus, the Cardinals led 35-30 with 2:00 to go before the break.

The Spartans connected at the charity stripe after getting fouled on a made basket and followed it up with make from outside the arc to tie the game at 36. Somerset got the ball back and called a timeout to set up a play with 20 seconds remaining.

Prescott’s defense stayed strong and the Spartans missed two shots to end the half still tied up.

Somerset struck first with a three after working the ball around the perimeter for a nice look. Both teams missed shots from deep before Nielsen drove to his right and scored through some contact. The Spartans hit another threepointer before Doffing found the basket after a crafty post move, but the Cardinals still trailed 42-40 with 15:00 to remaining.

Nielsen took his defender to the post to show off his offensive repertoire with a drop step for two.

Prescott got the ball back, worked it around the perimeter where Nielsen set up Malmov for another three. Somerset tried to answer but as the game ticked closer to finishing, the Cardinals stepped up their game. After Mason Holte found a basket inside, Nielsen snagged a rebound near the rim and took it coast-to-coast for two more points of his own.

The Cardinals jumped ahead 49-42 and the Spartans were forced to call a timeout with 12:34 remaining in their season.

When action resumed, Prescott got the ball back and Nielsen took it up the court. He found Holte at the high post, who drew the attention of a couple Spartan defenders before setting up Doffing for an easy bucket with a nice pass right over the defense.

An empty offensive possession for the Spartans followed and Dylan Malmov punished them with a drive.

He decided not to dunk on the Somerset defense and stopped short, hitting a sweet jump shot to put his team ahead by eight with 7:45 to go.

Prescott slowed the game down a little bit before Nielsen drew a foul after driving and added another point at the line. With 5:30 remaining, the Cardinals led 60-51.

The Spartans started to chip back.

With 3:20 left, Jacob Doffing and Walker Lenz found themselves in foul trouble with four each. The Spartans followed up a layup with a quick three and found themselves trailing only 62-58 with 2:08 on the clock.

Parker Nielsen took a shot and hustled for his own board to extend their lead by two more. Somerset scored two of their own. Doffing added a point at the charity stripe before Nielsen chipped in another pair to make it a seven-point game. The Spartans drew a foul on a shot and hit both to cut it back to just five. Nielsen took a shot to extend the lead out of their reach, but it bounced off the rim. Senior Wyatt Holum outhustled the opposing team and snatched the rebound before a timeout was called by the Cardinals with 15 seconds on the clock. The Spartans got the ball back and got fouled, adding to their score to make it a 68-65 ball game with one second to play. Jordan Malmov rebounded the free throw attempt before he was fouled and extended the lead by another pair to end the game at 70-65 in favor of the Cardinals.

Nielsen led in points with 27, but Jordan was close behind with 26.

Holte led all players in rebounds with 12 and also dished five assists. Doffing controlled the paint and finished with 13 points, six rebounds and six blocks.

Nielsen also contributed seven assists and five rebounds for the Cardinals.

Coach Nick Johnson had a lot of good things to say about both teams following the entertaining matchup.

“We knew it was going to be a game like that. They are well coached, they work so hard and they have such good players,” Johnson said respectfully about the Spartan squad led by Coach Troy Wink. “We knew it was going to be a barn burner and we obviously feel good about coming away with the win. It’s survive and move on now, it’s just win; and we did!”

Jordan Malmov scored 18 of his 26 points in the first half.

“We got production from a lot of different players, a little freshman played well. He’s cold blooded and he’s got no fear. Jordan’s a heck of a player. I’m proud of our kids. We got punched in the face in the first half, we got punched in the face in the second half and we kept responding. We didn’t break down and that’s the important thing,” Johnson stated.

Prescott will play the second-seeded St. Croix Central on Thursday, hosted by Somerset for the WIAA Sectional Semi-Final game. The Panthers finished 3rd in the Middle Border Conference and boast an 18-6 record.