The Prescott Cardinals defeated the St. Croix Central Panthers in Hammond on Tuesday night by a score of 70-63. It was the Cardinals’ second consecutive win to start the season, both of which were versus divisional opponents.

The Cardinals staked the first advantage of the game at 4-0 before SCC answered scoring five in a row of their own. Prescott got the lead right back, and at 8-5 both teams simultaneously went on a three-point rampage.

Dallas Wallin got one for the Cards, then each team hit one before Prescott called a timeout with a 15-11 lead. This did nothing to curb the deep shots as after a couple quick field goals by each team to keep the difference in score at four, the Panthers and Cardinals once again started trading off at sinking three-pointers. This time, Prescott blinked first and SCC pulled back within two at 22-20.

Ian Leask showed up for the red birds, draining three and increasing their lead to five. Meanwhile, Wallin just kept piling up rebounds for the Cardinals, and with 3:30 left to play in the first, Leask did it again sinking a three and increasing the lead to eight at 28-20.

As the period wound to a close, the three-point parade continued. SCC got a layup and came right back with a three to pull within five before Leask hit from deep again to run it right back to eight at 33-25 in the waning seconds of the period. With 0:07 left on the clock, Kyle Cogan drew a foul and brought the lead to nine going into the break.

It was an inauspicious start to the second half for the Cardinals as SCC went on an 8-2 run to get within three before Prescott was forced to take an early timeout to stop the bleeding. The game tightened up significantly after that as both teams continued to go shot for shot throughout the period.

The midpoint in the second half came with a four-point advantage for Prescott, but two minutes later it was down to two at 47-45 with 7:20 remaining in the game.

Whereas the first period was all about the big shots, the second was marked by penalties, free throws and field goals.

With 3:21 left in the game, the Panthers hit another shot from the line to pull back within two at 52-50. Prescott got two free throws right back to make it a two-score game. Two defensive recoveries and a fast break by Cogan combined with a layup by Wallin pushed that lead out to seven at 58-51 with 2:15 left on the clock.

Prescott called a timeout shortly thereafter to go over the game plan for the final 1:45, which essentially amounted to not giving SCC the chance to come back by running out the clock.

The Panthers responded by going on a fouling spree that would turn 90 seconds of clock time into at least 10:00 of real time. The most impressive part of this was that four straight fouls went on Ian Leask who went a perfect 8-8 with the game on the line. This barrage of successful free throws ensured the victory for the Cardinals who advanced to 2-0 on the season with a 70-63 victory on the road.

As a team, Prescott had very respectable stats in this one. They shot 46% from the field (21-46), 41% from the three-point line (7-17) and 81% on free throws (21-26).

The offensive player of the game was Wallin who led the team in field goals (11), rebounds (15), blocks (five) and points (31). Leask also had a good game scoring 18 including leading the team in free throws going 9-10 and assists with four. Finally, Mason Schommer rounded out the double digit scoring for the Cardinals with 14 points and tying for second on the team in rebounds with six.

Free throws figured prominently into this victory, and that’s something that hasn’t been a given for Prescott thus far in the season, according to Head Coach Nick Johnson.

“We’re coming off a game we were 11 for 27 on free throws against Somerset - we were awful. So, this is definitely a huge plus to make some clutch free throws,” Johnson said. “I thought we played very good defensively too. We made them work for baskets. We probably got out rebounded in that area, we're not very happy with that, but when we needed a bucket we found a way. It wasn't always pretty, but it seemed like every time Saint Croix Central got the two or three or four, we found a way to get a big basket. That's pretty good.”

This season hasn’t exactly been conventional with the way Prescott has started, going directly into Middle Border Conference games right out of the gate. Fans might not know this, but the MBC sets the schedule for all conference games, and the schools coordinate all non-conference activity. Coach Johnson says that skipping what essentially amounts to the preseason was part of his plan for a team that features a lot of different faces this year.

“We knew this group was going to be new to playing together. I kind of recommended to our athletic director that we get as much practice time as we possibly can before we get going,” Johnson said. “Did we know we weren’t going to get even one game beforehand? No, but we wanted the extra time. We got three weeks of practice, and I think it's paid off for us.”

Next up for the undefeated Cardinals is a three-game slate of tough opponents, all of which will come at home. They squared off against Chippewa Falls on Monday before moving on to a two-step of MBC teams in Altoona on Tuesday and Amery on Friday. Tip off for all these games is 7 p.m. in Prescott.