With a 68-56 defeat against No. 10-ranked Osceola and a 76-59 defeat against No. 5 Luther, the Prescott Cardinals have now lost back-to-back games for the first time since January 2021.

Throughout those two games, the No. 3-ranked Cardinals struggled on the glass, didn’t come ready to play and didn’t compete with effort and confidence. For Prescott head coach Nick Johnson, those are things he never thought he would have to worry about with the 2022-23 roster.

“If things stay the way they are right now and we continue to not listen and do what we’re asked, then we’re very concerned,” Johnson said. “I thought coming into this year that would never be an issue, with how last year ended. We’ve talked and I think we’re going to come out of this just fine. Hopefully, we look back at it as something we learned from.”

If Prescott is learning lessons, they’re learning them the hard way. The Cardinals went into the road game against Osceola on Thursday, Jan. 12, with a perfect 10-0 record, including a spotless 6-0 record in Middle Border Conference action.

The Chieftains also entered the contest undefeated, as they held a flawless 9-0 record. Thursday night’s game was unquestionably Prescott’s biggest game of the season thus far and they still struggled to play with a sense of urgency, at least in Johnson’s eyes.

“I just didn’t think we were mentally prepared to play. We had a pretty decent game plan and a lot of it was our kids just didn’t get off the bus,” Johnson said. “For some reason that we still can’t figure out, it’s almost like we were intimidated playing there and it showed right from the start.”

Prescott’s slow start was at least partially because of Osceola’s defense, which hounded senior guard Jordan Malmlov and junior forward Dallas Wallin and quickly made them uncomfortable offensively.

While Prescott’s one-two punch struggled early, Osceola’s primary scorer, senior forward Brayden Bradway, hit shots early and often. Osceola senior center Carson Hollman, who stands at a towering 6’10”, controlled the glass throughout the game and regularly cleaned up offensive rebounds before making putback layups.

Prescott’s lethargic start led to an early Osceola lead that culminated in a 35-30 halftime advantage for the Chieftains. Coach Johnson spoke about his two stars, Malmlov and Wallin, struggling in their biggest game of the year thus far.

“Jordan and Dallas didn’t look comfortable or confident and it felt like we just weren’t ready to play at that moment in that big of a game, which was very concerning,” Johnson said. “I thought we played our worst game of the year and it wasn’t even close.”

Going into the game, Prescott averaged nearly 80 points per contest and Malmlov dropped 40 seemingly as he pleased. On Thursday night against Osceola, Prescott scored 56 points and shot a pedestrian 36% from the floor.

Malmlov finished with 23 points, 10 of which came at the free throw line, while shooting 27% from the field. Wallin finished with 12 points on 44% shooting from the floor, while also grabbing six rebounds and dishing out three assists. Coach Johnson

See PRESCOTT BBB, Page B-3 credited Osceola’s defense for some of the Cardinals’ offensive issues.

“They’re very good and I’ll give them a lot of credit. They’re a very good team and they suffocated us defensively,” Johnson said. “We couldn’t do anything offensively. We went through a nine-minute stretch where we only scored three points. There just wasn’t a spurt in that game where we played good basketball.”

Although poor shooting nights are an inevitability, effort and hustle can often make up for those nights, especially in the rebounding battle. However, the Cardinals again struggled on the glass, as they’ve made a habit this season.

Osceola outrebounded Prescott 30-16 during Thursday night’s game and used those second-chance opportunities to generate extra shots that ultimately led to the Cardinals’ 68-56 defeat. Johnson spoke about another instance where his team struggled on the glass.

“It’s obviously a big issue and we’re going to continue to work on it. It kind of goes back to how bad the kids want to work and how physical they want to be,” Johnson said. “Right now we’re showing we don’t have that want and it’s killing us. Other teams seem to be playing harder than us and seem to want to beat us more than we want to beat them.”

After Prescott’s loss on the road against Osceola, the Cardinals traveled to the La Crosse Center for the Midwest Players Classic, where they faced off with Onalaska Luther, the No. 5-ranked school in the Division 4 weekly coaches’ poll.

Luther’s 2022-23 roster features three standout players who all average more than 14 points per game. Luther’s offensive weapons have propelled the team to an 11-1 record, with the lone loss coming against West Salem, the No. 1-ranked team in the Division 3 poll.

Luther outscored Prescott 38-31 in the first half and then 38-28 in the second half which culminated in the 76-59 win over Johnson’s Cardinals. He spoke about the game and the talent on Luther’s roster.

“Luther is a really, really good team and I think they’ve got three players that could be First-Team All-Conference players in the Middle Border – they’re that good,” Johnson said. “Another thing with our team is we can’t respond when things don’t go well because we don’t get put in that position a lot. That’s something that has to happen and we need more leadership from players.”

Coach Johnson made it clear that his team didn’t play up to their potential against both Osceola and Luther. He continued speaking about where his program is at right now.

“We’ve just got to keep learning,” Johnson said. “We’re in a slump. There’s no doubt we’re in a slump and we’re playing very good teams, but they’re teams that we feel we can beat.”

With the losses against two ranked opponents, Prescott dropped to 10-2 for the season and 6-1 in Middle Border Conference play. Because of the MBC defeat, Prescott will be chasing Osceola for the league title for the rest of the season.

Prescott was slated to be back in action with a non-conference game against Racine St. Catherine’s on Monday, Jan. 16, at the Fiserv.Forum in Milwaukee. That game was slated to begin at 5:50 p.m.

Prescott senior forward Brandon Stuart makes a tough driving layup during the Cardinals’ rivalry game against Ellsworth on Tuesday, Jan. 10. Photo by Reagan Hoverman