The Prairie Falcon boys basketball squad continues to pull off close matchups after a 67-65 win on the road at Evergreen High School on Wednesday, Jan. 22.
Prairie’s Carson Morningstar shined on the floor with 30 points and Malachi Patton added 15 points in the nailbiter over the Plainsmen. But Riley Burke’s grunt work may have made the difference. He had seven points on the night, but his efforts allowed Morningstar to lead the offense.
“I think he takes some pressure off of Carson, but rebounding wise he’s great and he had some huge buckets down here at the end, and other games he’s really important for us,” Falcons head coach Jimmy Tuominen said on Burke’s floor presence. “So just some physicality, some senior leadership, which with our team being so young as it is, it makes a huge difference.
“I think it allows Carson to have moments where maybe honestly he can maybe take a little bit of rest while he’s still on the court,” Tuominen said of Burke’s presence helping Morningstar, who plays almost every minute of the game in close contests. “Even for tonight for example, there’s an [out-of-bounds] we ran kind of quickly where Riley got a layup that really he’s done something for Carson to get open, and all the attention goes to Carson, and while Riley is all of a sudden wide open to a point blank layup, and we end up winning by two. That was huge.”
Tuominen credited the Plainsmen, who entered the game with a 4-11 record, with their effort.
“Evergreen is really good. They’re really athletic,” he said. “They have a very good player and then they hit some 3s early that made us have to do some different things defensively that maybe we weren’t quite ready for. … Evergreen played a hell of a game. They did a great job. So all credit to them too.”
Tuominen said his Falcons squad battled illness with limited or zero practice, but another close matchup, especially when it may not have been expected, is practice toward the postseason.
“I think it helps a lot, especially when you consider we’ve lost four games by a total of five points this season, right?” Tuominen said of close battles. “So I think winning a close game like this down at the end really helps with confidence and feeling like they can win a close game at the end when it matters, especially when it’s a league win.”
Tuominen added that the close games early in the season built up experience toward the Falcons one-possession win over Evergreen.
The Falcons followed their performance on Jan. 22 with an 82-70 win against the Kelso Hilanders on Friday, Jan. 24. Prairie next hosted Tumwater High School for a little nonleague action on Monday, Jan. 27, but results were unavailable at press time. They next play at Heritage High School at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 31 for a 3A Greater St. Helens League matchup.