Prescott drops first playoff game to Oakesdale, 60-54

OAKESDALE-Prescott traveled to Oakesdale on Saturday February 15th to kick off the first game of the district 9 tournament. Oakesdale scored first, but #11 Antonio Hernandez answered for Prescott with a layup off a nice pass from #23 Miguel Ayala. Both teams played a very tight first quarter with good defense played by both teams. Prescott struggled to find open shots and ended the quarter behind 11-8. In addition, point guard Jonathan Cardenas found himself in foul trouble and as a result played limited minutes in the first half.

After falling behind 13-8 early in the second quarter, #1 Omar Velazco hit a three-pointer to cut the lead to two at 13-11. From here Oakesdale went on a 7-1 run, putting themselves up by eight points with the score 20-12. Fortunately for Prescott, this was when #3 Victor Garcia turned red hot. First, he hit a three-pointer to make the score 20-15, then another the next time down the court to make it 20-18. The very next possession he hit a college length three-pointer to give Prescott their first lead of the game 21-20 and the possession. After that he was fouled shooting from three-point range and made all three of his free throws to give Prescott a 24-20 lead which was the score at halftime.

In the third quarter it was Omar Velazco who started hitting three-pointers. He would hit two of them in the quarter, scoring half of the team's total of twelve points. Oakesdale began playing tighter defense this quarter as both teams traded baskets. Prescott held the lead at 36-33 going into the fourth quarter.

Oakesdale tied the game at 39-39 in the fourth quarter. A series of drives in the lane and shots balancing or bouncing on the rim before inevitably falling for Oakesdale resulted in a 10-5 run. With Prescott down 49-44, Victor Garcia made another big three-pointer to cut the lead back to two points at 49-47. Unfortunately, that's as close as they would get in the fourth quarter as Oakesdale went on to win by a score of 60-54.

As this is a double elimination tournament, Prescott will face Pomeroy in the losers bracket this Friday the 21st at 4:30 p.m. The game will be held at Walla Walla Community College. Should Prescott win that game, they can still qualify for state by beating the loser of the 7:30 p.m. district championship game between Oakesdale and Garfield Palouse. If Prescott does win the Friday game, they will play at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday the 22nd at WWCC.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th Total

Prescott 8 16 12 18 54

Oakesdale 11 9 13 27 60

Prescott: Omar Velazco 16, Victor Garcia 17, Antonio Hernandez 4, Jonathan Cardenas 13, Miguel Ayala 4