EPHRATA — On a night where they used more Vicks VapoRub in the locker room than heat balm, the Ephrata Tigers showed a little grit on the home floor Saturday night, playing through sickness and overcoming a slow start to beat Prosser 71-58 and keep pace in the Central Washington Athletic Conference.

Tigers (5-3, 3-2 CWAC) were missing three starters the night before in a 82-58 loss to the conference frontrunners from Selah. So, to rebound after a long bus ride and a short turnaround is a tribute to the work ethic. Especially starting off Saturday night’s game in an 8-0 hole.

“Trenton (Kleyn) didn’t make the trip (to Selah) last night. The fact (Hunter) James went in and played at all was a tribute to him. We just needed to get our legs under us and get it going,” Ephrata coach Brandon Evenson said. “Prosser is a good team and they’ve been rolling people.

“We hit 12 3-pointers tonight. We play the percentages and we know we’re going to make a few and give up a few. But our strength is running out of that 2-2 zone and that’s what we did.”

It took them awhile to chase the Mustangs (3-2, 2-2 CWAC) down, but they finally took their first lead, 13-12, at 2:36. The matchups were fairly equal, Prosser also hit 12 from beyond the arc, so it was a matter of staying the course and pushing the pace and eventually something had to give.

“The key was to play hard and do what we do every day in practice,” said Jakob Oxos, who finished with 27 points, five from downtown. “We started slow, but we just had to get the blood running and start our hitting shots. Once we did that, we were fine.”

It was a battle for every possession and the paint turned into a war zone between 6-foot-4 Calvin Maljaars and 6-1 Haden Hicks from Prosser and Tigers 6-4 junior Josh Benthem and freshman reserve Kyle Hendrick, who gave Ephrata some quality minutes.

“I was out for blood,” said Benthem, who finished with a double-double with 16 rebounds and 20 points. “We were hard going after every rebound. I just try to work hard and do my part, tonight was fun.”

Ephrata took a nine-point lead into the locker room at the intermission and extended it to 61-47 midway through the final period. Prosser never did get it back to a single-digit deficit, but did cut it to 64-52 with 2:10 remaining.

Benthem, who when teamed with Hunter (6-4), gives the Tigers a real presence in the paint even though they play a run-first, pop the 3-pointer, brand of ball. The 6-4 junior swatted Chase Courtney’s attempt to lift it over Hunter on a pull-up from six feet and the Tigers raced to the other end of the floor for the lay-up to make it 66-52 in a defining moment in the final two minutes.

“Kyle Hendrick is a freshman, but he doesn’t play like a freshman,” Evenson said. “We are blessed to have him give us quality minutes coming off the bench. The last two games he got to start because we have guys that were sick. They weren’t so dominate physical-wise as they’ve been in the past, and Kyle came in and gave us quality minutes when we needed him.”

Ephrata travels to Ellensburg on Tuesday, then hosts Othello coming out of the holiday on Dec. 28.

Prosser 16 12 17 13 - 58

Ephrata 22 15 19 15 - 71

Prosser - Andre Vanguardia 8, Will Weinmann 15, Christian Campos 2, Chase Courtney 5, Calvin Maljaars 4, Haden Hicks 17, Israel Olivarez 7. Totals: 12 4-11 58.

Ephrata - Jayce Moore 3, Jakob Oxox 27, Caden Blankenship 6, Trenton Kleyn 5, Tyler McMillan 6, James Hunter 2, Josh Benthem 20, Seth Elliott 2. Totals: 10 15-23 71.