The Prescott Cardinals lost to the Hastings Raiders by a score of 67-57 in Hastings on Thursday night. It was truly a tale of two halves which resulted in a bitter defeat for the red birds.

The game started out slower. After 4:00, the score was 4-2 in favor of Hastings, but this would be their last lead of the period.

A Kobe Russell pass to Dallas Wallin on the perimeter for a three made it 5-4. Prescott quickly got the ball back, and a pass from Jameson Bauer to Wallin under the net made it 7-4. 

Rebounds kept coming for the Cardinals, and Kyle Cogan drained a three-pointer next to bring the score to 10-4. Thus, at 11:56, Hastings took a timeout.

A couple of nice steals by Ian Leask kept things moving in the right direction. Wallin scored four in a row for the Cardinals, including two from the line, and Prescott was in business at 18-9 with 8:00 left in the half.

Prescott pushed all the way out to 23-9 before Hastings showed some signs of life and put together a 7-0 run, forcing a Cardinal timeout at 23-16 and 5:00 remaining.

The score kept tightening up, and 90 seconds later it was a five-point game at 25-20. That’s when Barrett Temmers, Mason Schommer and Max Montieth went back-to back-to-back to make it 31-20 with 1:35 remaining in the first.

The final 0:30 were something to see. First, a tipped pass by Montieth set up Wallin for a fast break that was blocked and then finished by Leask. Then Wallin hit a three while the buzzer was ringing to make it 36-20 at the half.

Prescott struck first in the second half to take an 18-point lead at 38-20. Yet, somehow, that’s when the wheels fell off.

Over the next several minutes, Hasting drained four three-pointers to Prescott’s one to make it 41-32 with 12:30 to go. Cogan would go on a mini run for the Cardinals, sinking a three and making two more from the line to regain some of their lost point differential, but it would be short lived.

Hastings kept pounding three’s, and Prescott called a timeout with 11:00 remaining in regulation. The Raiders’ next push had them pulling within nine at 46-37. The Cardinals kept treading water though, as Montieth got a good look at a wide open layup to take the lead back to 11.

The next two drives happened in quick succession. Another Raider three-pointer was quickly followed up by a Wallin fastbreak for two, and the score became 50-40 with 8:30 showing on the clock.

That’s when things really got out of control.

Over the next 3:30 of game clock, Hastings would outscore Prescott 10-3, and the Cardinals found their 18-point lead almost completely gone at 53-50. The Raiders were relentless with the three-pointers, draining one after another in the second period, which they did again to tie it up at 53-all, completing a highly improbable comeback with plenty of time yet remaining.

A minute later and Hastings had the lead at 55-54, and 90 seconds after that, their lead was out to four at 59-55. Things just kept getting worse for the Cardinals, and when the game finally ended, the Raiders had surged out to a 10-point lead at 67-57.

Having a short memory is one of the hardest, but most necessary, things to do in sports. Especially for teams with aspirations of a conference championship and more like the Cardinals have this season.

Head Coach Nick Johnson says there were multiple things they came up short on that resulted in this game getting away from them so rapidly in the second half.

“Definitely a tough loss. We could not handle full court pressure and had way too many missed opportunities. Missed layups, free throws, costly turnover after turnover and no offense at times were the key factors,” Johnson said. “We need to find a way to be better with the ball. Make smarter decisions and some of our players just need to relax and play to their abilities.” 

At times in the second half, it seemed as if the Cardinals were trying to compensate for the ground they were losing by playing faster.

“I think we were rushed because of their pressure. We haven't seen full court man to man this season like that, and Hastings is a very physical team. Give them credit, they came out the second half and made big shots and made us uncomfortable,” Johnson said. “We will definitely learn from this and it will make us better. We know our weaknesses, and it was hopefully an eye opener for some of our players. We need to get better with our fundamentals.”

Even though they wanted to win, the Cardinals know this game has little to do with their true goal this season of being a conference champion and pushing deep into the postseason. Prescott is currently tied for second with the Baldwin-Woodville Blackhawks at 3-1 in the Middle Border, and that’s exactly who they have on deck next.

Next up for the Cardinals is one of the biggest Middle Border matches of the season when the Blackhawks come to play in Prescott on Tuesday at 7:15 p.m. Then they will go on the road on Saturday against the Northwestern Tigers at 4:15 p.m.