The River Falls Wildcats beat the La Crosse Central Riverhawks by a score of 56-39 on Thursday night in La Crosse.

The Wildcats played a very even offensive game throughout, but it was their second half defense that allowed them to break the game open.

Approaching midway through the first period, La Crosse had a 10-7 lead. Brody Graetz stepped up for the Wildcats and drained a deep three-pointer to tie the game up at 10. The Riverhawks answered back scoring three of their own, so Joey Butz sank another one for River Falls to keep the tie going.

With just over 1:00 to play in the period, River Falls had a 25-23 lead. Preston Johnson increased this number by three and they went into the half up by five.

They didn’t let up coming out of the break either, scoring six unanswered points including another three-pointer by Butz to increase their lead to 34-23. Midway through the period, the Wildcats had pushed that lead out to 10 when Eli Johnson drained a three of his own to bring the tally to 43-30. The Riverhawks couldn’t get anything going against the River Falls defense, scoring only 16 points in the half and losing by the final score of 56-39.

As a team, the Wildcats only scored at a 39% clip on field goals, but they shot a respectable 28% on three’s and a perfect 5-5 on free throws.

Butz was the offensive player of the game on this one, leading the team in scoring (20), free throws (a perfect 4-4) and three-pointers (4-12). Johnson also had a solid game for River Falls, shooting 6-11 from the field, 1-1 on free throws, 2-5 on three’s and led the team in assists with four.

With Big Rivers Conference play beginning on Tuesday, this was a good first win for a team that finished lower than usual last year and is looking to climb back to the top of the conference this season.

Head Coach Zac Campbell says he obviously likes the win, but they have a long way to go if they want to win a conference championship.

“We have a lot of growth to do in practice as we have been very inconsistent. Fortunately, we had a great night on Thursday and showed what we are capable of,” Campbell said. “Moving forward we need to string good practices together from an energy and effort standpoint in order for us to build habits that are consistent throughout the season.”

Campbell says the resilience and gamer mentality of his guys buoyed them after getting behind early and propelled them to a victory.

“To be able to rebound from a quick 7-0 hole showed some strong character on our guys' part. We had some players who had not played in a varsity game before step up and give us quality minutes,” Campbell said. “Defensively we did a lot of good things that frustrated Central, and despite not shooting it well, gave ourselves a chance to win the game. A 6-0 run to start the second half was huge for us to be able to keep their home crowd out of it but also build defensive energy.”

With a two-step of BRC teams on deck this week, Campbell says they’re going to have to be on their A-game.

“Trips to New Richmond and Hudson will reveal a lot about our team this week. New Richmond is one of the most explosive teams in our league and can score it in bunches from a number of different players. Athletically they are a special group,” Campbell said. “Hudson is so strong fundamentally that they give everyone fits. Our attention to detail and consistency will be key this week if we are going to be able to go on the road and get a win against either of these teams.”

The 1-0 Wildcats will travel to New Richmond on Tuesday to play the Tigers at 7:15 p.m., and from there they will head to Hudson on Friday to play the Raiders at 5:30 p.m.

Middle Border: Prescott

The Prescott Cardinals came out hot in Middle Border Conference play on Friday night in Prescott, defeating Somerset by a score of 65-62.

It was a high scoring but tight game throughout for the Cardinals who won by three, claiming the lead late in the second half.

The first period went shot for shot, and at the half, it was all tied up at 35 apiece. Midway through the second period it was still tied at 42-42. Prescott pulled out to a late five-point lead and held on to win by three.

Ian Leask was the offensive player of the game for Prescott scoring a team leading 22 points, shooting 7-12 from the field, 2-3 on free throws and 6-11 on 3three-pointers. Dallas Wallin also had a big game for the Cardinals scoring 12 points and leading the team by a margin in rebounds (11) and assists (5) while co-leading in steals (2).

Head Coach Nick Johnson says they’re very happy with the outcome, especially with it being their first game.

“We played well against a very good team. Our defense won the game, and that's what we feel our strength will be this year,” Johnson said. “Getting four double digit scorers was a huge plus. We will need to continue to have different players step up offensively each game.

Johnson says they’re going to continue to focus on all areas of the game in practices as they look forward to week 2 of the season.

“We have a lot to improve on, but offensively getting easier looks around the basket is number one. Defensively we need to communicate more,” Johnson said. “SCC will be another huge challenge especially at their place.”

Conference play continues for the Cardinals on Tuesday when they will travel to Hammond to play the Saint Croix Central Panthers at 7 p.m. They will also travel to Menomonie on Saturday afternoon to play non-conference game against the Fall Creek Crickets at 2:45 p.m.

Middle Border: Ellsworth

The Ellsworth Panthers lost to the Cochrane-Fountain City Pirates 63-41 in Cochrane on Tuesday and lost 63-55 to the Altoona Mountain Lions on Friday at home.

Tuesday’s game against Cochrane was something of an anomaly. The Panthers were somehow outscored by the Pirates 42-10 in the first half before tripling their own total and holding Cochrane to half of theirs in the second half at 31-21.

In a game Ellsworth would rather forget, there weren’t many positive takeaways statistically. They shot a meager 29% from the field, 21% on three-pointers and 40% on free throws, albeit with much better results in the second period.

Parker Woodland was the leading scorer for the Panthers at 17 shooting 5-14 from the field while converting 4-6 on free throws and 3-10 on three-pointers. Woodland also led the team in steals with three and third in rebounds with five. Omar Coulson led the team in rebounds (7) and assists (5) and George Rohl scored 14 while also garnering seven rebounds.

The silver lining for the Panthers is that their success from the second half carried over into Friday’s game against the Mountain Lions; unfortunately they still ended up on the wrong side of the win loss column.

Head Coach Derek Staley sees the big picture of the season, not just an 0-4 start to the season.

“Our record certainly is not where we want it to be, but our guys are making really good progress,” Staley said. “We try to take it one game at a time. I am not thinking about where we are going to finish in the conference, I am just thinking about our next practice and our next game. We need to be focused on making progress today.” 

Staley says the main focus in practice right now is on taking care of the ball and taking great shots on offense. 

Even though the Panthers are 0-4 on the season, they are only one game into conference play. A win against Amery on Tuesday would put them at 1-1 in the Middle Border Conference. Tip off for that game is at 7 p.m. They will also play a non-conference game on Friday when they travel to Coulee Christian High School where they will play at 6:00pm.

Dunn-St. Croix: EPC

The Elmwood-Plum City Wolves were defeated by the Osseo-Fairchild Thunder by a score of 80-45 on Friday in Osseo.

After beating Blair-Taylor by a healthy 65-51 margin to open non-conference play for the season, they lost by 35 on Friday. The saving grace for this blowout loss is that it wasn’t against a Dunn-St. Croix opponent. Coming off a down year last year after finishing third two seasons ago, the Wolves are looking to climb back up the Dunn-St. Croix leaderboard this season.

The game got out of hand right away for EPC, who was down 48-27 by the half. The defense was better for both teams in the second period, but the Wolves were still soundly outscored 32-18.

As a team, they shot 16-57 from the field (28%), 6-10 on free throws (60%) and 7-32 on three-pointers (22%). The silver lining player of the game for this one was Lucas Glaus who scored 26 of the Wolves 45 points going 8-20 on field goals, 5-6 on free throws and 5-14 on threes. Aaden Birtzer also had a good game, pulling in eight rebounds and leading the team in assists with three.

Head Coach Kyle Webb says there was a dichotomy of game play between their first two games of the season.

“Monday's win was due to us being disciplined and doing the little things correctly, whereas Friday's loss was due to the exact opposite,” Webb said. “I feel that we are hungry to make a statement after Friday night. Our focus this week will be to fine tune things and work on our offensive abilities.”

With conference play beginning on Tuesday in Glenwood City at 7:15 p.m., that need to make a statement looks like it will come at just the right time for the Wolves as they look to start 1-0 in the Dunn-St. Croix. Elmwood-Plum City will also play a non-conference game at UW-Stout on Saturday morning at 10:15 a.m.