By Reagan Hoverman

For the 2021-22 iteration of the Prescott boys basketball team, wins have not been an issue, to say the least. Instead, it’s the process of getting the wins and maximizing the ability of each player on the team.

Since the 67-54 win at home against Ellsworth on Thursday, Jan. 27, Prescott has gone 3-0 in the subsequent three games and according to head coach Nick Johnson, the play of the team is starting to move in the right direction.

The first of the three-game stretch was on the road against Mondovi on Friday, Jan. 28, a game that Prescott won 77-49 and after the first ten minutes of action, was never in danger of losing. The second game was on Tuesday, Feb. 1, on the road against Altoona. Prescott trailed 41-36 going into the halftime break and then outscored the Railroaders 49-34 in the second half to head home with a 10-point victory.

The third and final matchup was perhaps the most competitive of the three-game stretch. On Friday, Feb. 4, Prescott hosted Osceola in another Middle Border Conference matchup. Sophomore Dallas Wallin led the charge for Prescott on Friday night. His 23 points on 8-12 shooting from the floor helped push Prescott to a 73-61 victory at home to improve to 16-2 overall for the season, including a 10-1 record in Middle Border Conference games.

Perhaps one change that has made a difference in the play of Prescott has been Johnson’s decision to shake up the starting lineup. Up until the aforementioned threegame stretch, junior guard Brandon Stuart had been in the starting lineup. In those three games, senior guard Justin Syverson was selected to move into the lineup in place of Stuart. Johnson spoke about moving the senior into the starting lineup.

“Justin (Syverson) now has started three games,” Johnson said. “He’s just flat out earned it. He does everything we’re asking him to do – defensively, offensively, he gives us that boost of energy. Three games ago we put him in there and he hasn’t done anything not to keep it.”

Shaking up the lineup has certainly been a positive for Prescott. In the game against Osceola, nine minutes into the game the Cardinals led the Chieftains 29-13. Osceola battled back through the next nine minutes of action to make the halftime score 39-28.

Three minutes into the second half, Wallin pulled up and buried a deep three-pointer to give Prescott a 44-34 lead. After Osceola’s layup on the ensuing possession, Wallin took the ball to the rack in transition, got fouled, made the layup, and converted the old-fashioned three-point play to give Prescott a 47-36 lead.

The Prescott lead hovered around 10 points for a majority of the second half. But in the end, Prescott walked away with a 73-61 victory. At least for the time being, the fresh starting lineup has helped Prescott get back into an offensive rhythm which was led by Wallin’s fantastic night.

Wallin led all scorers with his 23 points, a majority of which came in their transition offense after missed Osceola shots. He also added 15 rebounds, three assists and five steals. Coach Johnson spoke about Wallin’s ability to change the game for Prescott.

“We switched him to point guard hoping to get the ball more in his hands and getting Jordan (Malmlov) to play off the ball,” Johnson said. “Dallas (Wallin) in transition is a matchup nightmare. He passes and sees the floor so well. He made a couple of one-handed full-court passes tonight and we’re like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ He’s great offensively and he’s just as great defensively. He’s one of the best defenders I’ve coached and he’s only a sophomore.”

The win over Osceola, which completed a four-game winning streak since Prescott’s loss at home against Baldwin-Woodville, has righted the ship for the Cardinals. Johnson spoke about where the team is at this point in the season.

“It’s definitely a step forward and better than a step backward tonight,” Johnson said. “We were in a 1-3-1 defense tonight and we’re just trying to see what’s going to work best for us defensively. We’ve got torched in our manto- man and we’ve got holes in our 1-3-1, we’re 18 games in and still figuring things out. I still believe something is going to click and it’s going to work for us. We’ve got plenty of time to keep getting better.”

Reading between the lines, it’s easy to see how highly coach Johnson thinks of this iteration of the Prescott Cardinals. Very few coaches would be talking about trying to figure things out when the team is 16-2 and in first place in the conference standings.

As Johnson stated, if the defense can be cleaned up heading into the playoffs, Prescott will be a team that nobody wants to play. Up next for Johnson and the Cardinals is a Thursday night, Feb. 10, home game against Somerset. That game is slated to begin at 7 p.m.

agan Hoverman

Hoverman

Zone Defense: Osceola senior guard Charlie Tronrud holds the ball as sophomore Dallas Wallin and junior Jordan Malmlov play zone trap defense on Tronrud. Photo by Reagan