Save the best for last?

That may be the case at least as it concerns Friday nights contest between the visiting Superior boys and the Plains Horsemen in a wild fight to the finish non-conference high school basketball clash.

Superior’s Orion Plakke, who put the Bobcats ahead 55-53 in the second overtime put the Bobcats ahead again at 57-55 in the period after the Horsemen had tied the score at 55. After Plakke’s second basket with 2:06 remaining, neither team could find the range and time ran out on a heart-pounding night of basketball action.

It came on an emotion-filled night that was Plains’ Senior night and a beautiful tribute to a 17-old Plains student who was killed in a tragic car wreck earlier in the week.

A full house, most of which was bedecked in some kind of teal colored clothing, ribbon or headband in honor of Haylee Nelson, who died in a four-car accident on Highway 200 between Dixon and Ravalli, experienced the gauntlet of highs and lows during the evening and the double overtime game.

The Horsemen scratched out an 11-8 lead after one quarter of play in what was to be a sign of things to come. Superior then fought back in the second quarter and took a 22-16 lead at the half.

The Bobcats held that lead throughout a back and forth third quarter, which ended with Superior ahead by a razor thin 35-33 count. Plains’ 6-2 junior forward Anaya Loberg kept the Horsemen in the game throughout the second half as he rained in four long range rainbow three-pointers, including two in a 14-point outburst in the third quarter.

Loberg add two more treys in the fourth quarter to help offset the play of Plakke, whose rebounding and scoring kept Superior’s hopes of winning alive.

Plakke scored a two-pointer and was fouled with 17 seconds left in regulation and converted the free throw to tie the score at 50. He got the ball back with just a few ticks remaining on the clock and was fouled, creating a one and one free throw situation, but he was off on the first shot as time ran out and the game went to overtime.

Plains and Superior both scored three points in the first overtime period as neither team could pull away amid tight defense and untimely turnovers.

The first overtime ended with the score tied at 53. It turned out to be a costly overtime period for the Horsemen who lost Loberg and guard Eduardo Perianez to five fouls before the period ended.

That ushered in a second overtime period and Plakke was the difference for Superior, which closed out its regular season with a 6-12 mark. Plains concluded its regular season with a 3-14 record.

Loberg scored a game-high 28 points for the Horsemen, while Plakke topped Superior with 17 points, most of them in the second half and overtime periods. Eighth grader Gannon Quinlan had 15 points for the Bobcats.

The Horsemen opened their week last Tuesday when they traveled to Florence for boys and girls games with the Florence-Carlton Falcons. The boys led throughout the first half, but could not maintain the momentum in the second half as the Falcons outscored Plains 39-11 to obliterate a 30-27 Horsemen lead at the half. Florence-Carlton won the game 66-41.

Darren Standeford scored 16 points to lead the Horsemen.

Thursday night the Horsemen hit the road again, this time for a 7B conference game against the St. Ignatius Bulldogs. Plains trailed by only two at the end of the first quarter, then could not slow down the Bulldogs who outpointed them 25-16 in quarter number two on their way to a 41-29 halftime advantage.

The third quarter was all St. Ignatius as they ran and gunned their way to a 65-34 lead heading into the final eight minutes of play. St. Ignatius went on to win the game 77-52. Standeford was once again the top scorer for Plains with 17 points, while Loberg added 10 for the Horsemen.

St. Ignatius’ high-scoring guard Zoran LaFrambois led all scorers with 22 points for the Bulldogs.

The Trotters also had a tough week, first losing to Florence-Carlton 67-23, then dropping a lopsided game in St. Ignatius 88-37.

They closed out their week with a 64-35 loss to Superior’s Lady Bobcats.

In the Superior game, the Lady Cats exploded to an 18-4 first quarter lead, then grabbed an insurmountable 43-12 halftime lead after outscoring the Trotters 25-8 in the second quarter.

Superior added 9 more points to its lead in the third period as they rolled to the victory. The Lady Cats had three players who scored in double figures, paced by Pereira’s 16. Senior forward Darby Haskins added 11 for Superior, which also got 10 points from junior Lani Crabb.

Kass O’Keefe paced the Trotters with 7 points on the night.

The Trotters fell behind early and big to both St. Ignatius and Florence-Carlton in those games earlier in the week.

The Horsemen head to the 7B District tournament this week.