Horsemen fall, then rise

Those dreaded post-holiday blues.

One day you are sitting in the living room watching bowl games and eating to your heart's content and the next thing you know its basketball season again.

Kind of looking like they would rather still be on vacation against Thompson Fall in Plains Friday (the visiting Hawks scored a surprising 67-48 victory), the Plains Horsemen woke up and found their game in Darby Saturday, holding off the hometown Tigers 52-46.

Plains coach Tyrel Allen was not overly impressed with his Horsemen's efforts in their first game out of the gate for 2020. "We were extremely flat, played with no energy," he said. "It was a bad game for us and a good one for Thompson Falls. They really shot the ball well from the outside and it just got away from us."

The hot-shooting Hawks, in search of their first win of the season, got that win in their rivalry game with Plains. A non-conference affair, the game turned into a coming-out party for the red-hot Hawks who ran out to a lead of 18-8 after one quarter, upped the margin to 35-18 by halftime and put things away in the third quarter, which ended with Thompson Falls in cruise control with a 57-30 advantage heading into the final eight minutes.

Kade Pardee scored 17 points against his former teammates to lead the Horsemen, Tristan Subatch added eight, Jake Weyers seven, Esvin Reyes five,Tucker Foster and Treydon Brouillette three apiece, Jeremiah Allen and Nathan Feliska two each and Parker Flock one.

Please see other story for Thompson Falls scoring.

The game with Darby rekindled Allen's faith in his orange-and-black clad boys.

"We played well for two and a-half or three quarters," he said. "We had to hold on in the fourth but managed to get it done in the end."

Brouillette led Plains to the win with 15 points, four steals, three assists and three rebounds, and Kade Pardee was good for 14 points and 11 rebounds.

Reyes added eight points, Feliska five, Foster three, and Flock and Weyers two apiece.

The Smith brothers were all over it for Darby as Gabe Smith led the hosts with 18 points, brother Nelson added 12 and brother Preston nine.

Playing a largely non-conference schedule until now, the Horsemen have two District 14C conference games on tap, hosting surprising St. Regis Thursday and visiting Hot Springs Friday.

St. Regis looked impressive last week in scoring a 66-42 road win in Noxon. Allen looks for a battle with the upstart Tigers.

"This is a big game, St. Regis has been playing really well," he said. "They worked on their game in the off-season and they have a lot coming back from last year."

We will have to play well to beat this team."

Allen also knows that the Heat lie in wait Saturday in Hot Springs. "I am sure Hot Springs will be ready," he said, "they always seem to play well against us."