The River Falls Wildcats had a busy slate of basketball after some inclement weather caused them to postpone games last week.  The Wildcats played four games in six days and won three of them. First, they played La Crosse Logan at home on Tuesday and beat them by a score of 64-42, then they went on the road to play conference rival Chippewa Falls and won that game as well, 65-48.

Saturday was their lone loss of the week, and it came when they traveled across the border into Minnesota where they came up short against Edina, losing 84-63. Finally, they returned home to play the top team from the Middle Border Conference in the Prescott Cardinals and soundly defeated them by a score of 74-31 on Monday, Jan. 22.

None of these games were particularly close as they blew out three of their four opponents and came up 21 points short in the one game they lost. Joey Butz led the Wildcats in scoring in every game except one, and the combination of Eli and Preston Johnson’s offensive outputs also helped to propel River Falls to a great week of basketball.

This was essentially the final week of non-conference play for the Wildcats who are entering the home stretch of their season. From here on out, they will play almost exclusively BRC opponents to close out the season.

Also, because three of four of this past week’s games were against non-conference opponents, there wasn’t much of an opportunity for the second-place 5-2 Wildcats to gain ground in the Big Rivers Conference on the undefeated 7-0 Eau Claire Memorial Old Abes. However, they will get precisely that opportunity this Friday when they travel east to play the Abes on their home court for a chance to shrink their two-game lead to one.

Fans will remember when these two teams were tied for first place earlier this season and went head-to-head in a heartbreaking overtime loss for River Falls during the home opener.

That game was something of a mixed bag for the Wildcats as they got down big early but made a miraculous comeback in the second half to take the game into overtime. This comeback was willed into reality by the massive offensive performance by star player Butz, who came through in the clutch time and again. Unfortunately, the River Falls offense stalled out in extras, and they took the loss, falling into second place where they still currently reside.

This rematch of the top two teams in the conference isn’t a “must win” for the 12-3 Wildcats to win the Big Rivers Championship, but a loss in Friday’s game against Eau Claire will make it a lot more difficult. That said, there’s a lot of BRC play left, and anything can happen.

Tipoff in Eau Claire for River Falls’ biggest game of the season is on Friday at 7:15 p.m.

Prescott Cardinals

The Prescott Cardinals played a full slate of games last week, winning their two Middle Border clashes and losing their lone non-conference game.

It was a productive slate of games for the Cardinals who went 2-0 against Middle Border opponents and seized a controlling hand in the conference by beating the first-place Osceola Chieftains at home by over two dozen points at 69-44. They then secured their newly won position at the top of the standings by beating the Somerset Spartans on the road by a score of 68-52.

The only game they lost was inconsequential to their quest for another MBC Championship as it was a non-conference matchup against the River Falls Wildcats in River Falls on Monday, where they lost by a final score of 74-31.

Dallis Wallin continued his MVP caliber play for Prescott, averaging over 20 points a game for the Cardinals in their two wins. Max Monteith also had a nice set of games for the red birds as he was the only other player to average double digit points. That said, they were able to spread the ball around as a team getting nice individual performances from Kyle Cogan, Kobe Russell and Barrett Temmers.

Their two conference wins, especially the one against Osceola on Tuesday, were huge. Prior to this game, Prescott was one game behind the Chieftains in the conference rankings. By defeating them in such spectacular fashion, they not only move into a tie with Osceola atop the MBC at 7-1 apiece, but they also sent a message to the rest of their division about who the real team to beat down the stretch will be.

Thursday’s win against sixth-place Somerset came with less fanfare, but the Spartans’ record of 4-4 in the MBC is not indicative of the overall high level of play that these conference standings would suggest. Including non-conference play, Somerset is actually a top-3 team with a full season record of 11-5. This was a game the 11-5 Cardinals needed to win every bit as much as the game against the 11-4 Chieftains to secure their hold to the top of the Middle Border.

Their game against Somerset has further implications as well as it officially denotes the Cardinals’ entrance into the closing section of games in their regular season schedule. Of the seven opponents in their division, they now have only six left to play before a champion is crowned.

What this means in basic terms is that of their seven remaining games, six of them are vital to bringing home another championship banner to Prescott High School.

This last stretch of play begins with one last short week for the Cardinals as they have only one game scheduled. That match comes at home on Tuesday when they host the fifth-place 9-7 Saint Croix Central Panthers at 7 p.m.

Things start moving faster next week when they have two games before entering a final high-octane week where they will play four games in seven days, including a match against the Chieftains on the final day of the regular season, which could be for all the marbles. This is where things get interesting.