By Reagan Hoverman

After the Prescott boys basketball team defeated Saint Croix Central 96-67 on Tuesday, Jan. 11, one thing became crystal clear: The Prescott Cardinals are a class above the rest of the teams in the Middle Border Conference.

The Tuesday night contest was a game with extremely high stakes. Both Saint Croix Central and Prescott entered the game with flawless 5-0 records in conference play, both had 10-1 overall records for the 2021-22 season, and both entered the game ranked in the top 10 in the state according to the weekly Wissports coaches’ poll. Saint Croix Central and Prescott were ranked seventh and tenth respectively.

Prescott junior Brandon Stuart began the game with a layup 10 seconds into the first half which was followed by a three-pointer by senior Ben Rohl to give the Cardinals a 5-0 lead. The Saint Croix Central Panthers responded with a layup and a three-pointer of their own by seniors Carson Hinzman and Conner Nilssen respectively.

Throughout the first 18 minutes of action, Prescott was more consistent and played better defense than Saint Croix Central. The offensive and defensive consistency of the Cardinals contributed to the 44-33 halftime lead over Saint Croix Central. Notable Prescott scoring at the break included junior Jordan Malmlov with 10 points and senior Ben Rohl with nine points.

Coming out of the half, Prescott played the best 16 minutes of basketball that they have all season. In the first three possessions of the half for the Cardinals, three different players, Stuart, Rohl and senior Aiden Russell all hit three-pointers to extend the lead to 55-36.

Prescott continued to pour on the threepointers and led 75-46 with eight minutes to go in the second half. The offensive brilliance for Prescott culminated in a 94-57 lead with two minutes to go in regulation. At that point, Prescott head coach Nick Johnson pulled the starters and put the reserves into the game.

Approximately two minutes later, the final buzzer sounded which sealed the 96-67 victory for the Cardinals which moved Johnson’s squad into sole possession of first place in the

Hoverman ______________

__________________

Middle Border Conference standings. Coach Johnson spoke about the win and what it means for this team.

“It’s one of the best games I’ve been a part of in my 11 years as a coach,” Johnson said. “To play that complete of a game was impressive. The kids executing our game plan to almost perfection and to get big games from guys that haven’t filled up the box score lately from Aiden (Russell) and Ben (Rohl). I couldn’t have been more impressed with our kids.”

The game against Saint Croix Central was as close to perfect as a team could play. Prescott finished the game shooting an incredibly efficient 58% from the floor, including an unbelievable 51% from behind the three-point line. Prescott made 18 three-pointers which, to put into context, would be a great amount for an NBA team on any given night.

In addition to an outstanding offensive performance, Prescott was solid defensively. Saint Croix Central is a team that starts a more traditional center in senior Carson Hinzman. He was listed as 6’4” on the roster and played a majority of the game in the paint. Despite that, Prescott only lost the battle on the glass by six rebounds.

In addition to keeping that aspect of the game close, the Cardinals also forced 17 turnovers compared to the Panthers’ eight. Johnson stated that when the offense is clicking like that and the defense is stout, it’s going to be nearly impossible to beat Prescott. “How well we played defensively against such a good team, we might have been able to beat anybody the way we played that night,” Johnson said. “The energy and the crowd, it was one of those special nights for Prescott basketball.”

Prescott is notorious for playing a five-out style of basketball. In that style, the team doesn’t have a traditional center that roams around in the paint grabbing rebounds and posting up. Because of that, there were questions as to how Prescott would deal with a legitimate big-man center such as the aforementioned Hinzman.

What could have been a mismatch in favor of Saint Croix Central turned out to be a mismatch in favor of Prescott. Hinzman guarded Russell, who is faster, more athletic and can stretch the floor. Stretch the floor he did. Russell’s three-point shooting was on full display as he shot 5-8 from the three-point line en route to a 22-point night which led all scorers.

“Going into our season we don’t have a legit big guy,” Johnson said. “When you’ve got kids like (Ben Rohl) and Aiden (Russell) who can play much bigger than they are, that’s an equalizer. We hurt them more than they hurt us because they have to defend us. If we face a team with bigger kids than us, we can exploit them on the offensive end and we can make it a transition game with how fast we are.”

Coach Johnson wasn’t the only member of the team that felt like the win against Saint Croix Central was a special night. The aforementioned junior guard Malmlov spoke after the blowout victory about how much this roster wanted to beat Saint Croix Central.

“It’s huge, I mean, last year they beat us up. Both games they beat us by 30 points,” Malmlov said. “Tonight, a lot of our guys came in and – we hate these guys. We heard rumors before about what they thought about themselves and we came in knowing we were the better team. We’re happy with the result.”

When the starters got pulled, Prescott had already scored 94 points and the victory had been sealed. Malmlov said that it’s a testament to the work that the team has put in.

“It’s a testament to our guys,” Malmlov said. “We’re in the gym every day and every one of our guys is at open gym. We don’t take days off.”

Malmlov wasn’t short on praise for coach Johnson and the rest of the coaching staff. While the shooting performance will rightfully get a lot of credit, the defensive performance can’t be forgotten. “Our defense was stellar,” Malmlov said. “Coach Johnson put in a game plan on Sunday and we were switching everything up top, making sure Hinzman couldn’t get touches. We did well, we were talking, and our guys put the work in.”

The hard work in the gym is paying off for Prescott. With the victory, the Cardinals improve to 11-1 for the season, defeated the seventh-ranked team in the state, took sole possession of first place in the Middle Border Conference and sent a message to the rest of Division 3 basketball. Coach Johnson summed it up best.

“If we can get to a point where we can play to their potential, not exceed it or try to be someone else, just play to their potential, this team is and can be so special,” Johnson said. “The sky is the limit with this group.”

Prescott senior Ben Rohl buries a threepointer in the opening minutes of the home game against seventh-ranked Saint Croix Central on Tuesday, Jan. 11. Photo by Reagan