Akin to jet lag, the Plains Horsemen may have been suffering from a slight case of game lag last week at the Western B boys divisional basketball tournament at SKC Event Center in Pablo last week.

Not suffering from late-night fatigue but perhaps feeling a little weary from inactivity after going almost three full weeks without a game, coach Tyrel Allen and his Horsemen fell 63-29 to the eventual champion Anaconda Copperheads Thursday and 60-48 to the District 7B rival Troy Trojans Friday.

Troy went on defeat Eureka 62-48 and Deer Lodge 47-28 Saturday to win Western B consolation honors and was set to play Missoula Loyola in a Monday night challenge.

Anaconda had defeated Loyola 50-47 in the Western B title game to set up the challenge.

It was kind of a tale of two seasons for the Horsemen this winter as they went almost three full weeks between playing their last regular season game back on Feb. 14 and Thursday’s game with Anaconda.

Much has been said and written about District 7B not having a tournament this season and most conference coaches have adopted a once-bitten twice-shy approach to the subject, and Allen is no exception to that rule.

“It was pretty strange the way the season played out,” he said. “The lack of any games for three weeks definitely hurt us. Hopefully we will get the tournament back and things will go better next year.”

Making it doubly hard to kick off the rust in the first round, Anaconda came into Pablo on a roll after winning the District 6B tournament (yes, the sister conference did have a tourney while 7B did not) and never let the Horsemen gain any momentum.

“Their pressure in the 1-3-1 zone they run is pretty intimidating, they are very physical on that end,” Allen said. “We tried replicating it in practice but there is never really anything like the real thing.”

In spite of the gnarly Copperhead defense, Cooper Meredith had a big game for Plains posting a double double of 18 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Horsemen against Anaconda. Chase DePoe added nine points for the Horsemen and Eddie Siebert two.

Ryder Andersen led Anaconda with 13 points, Kyson Patrick and Travis Dye added 12 points apiece and Shane Schalk 10.

In contrast to the Anaconda game, the Horsemen started out hot against Troy the next day, racing out to a 15-5 lead early before Troy battled back to take control, ending the first quarter with an 18-17 lead, extending the advantage to 35-24 by halftime and 48-31 by the end of the third quarter.

Meredith very nearly posted another double double, this time with 14 points and nine rebounds (and three steals), to lead Plains, Ben Aldridge added 14 points, six rebounds and four assists, Jackson Revier eight points, Jarrett Weeks six points and six rebounds, DePoe four points and Siebert two.

Carson Orr scored 21 points to pace Troy, Emerson Downey added 15, Nolan Morris 12 and Thomas Guinard 10.

Looking ahead to next year, the Horsemen will lose Kylan Bostick to graduation but should return everyone else. “We should be pretty strong next year,” Allen said. “A few of the other teams in the conference will also be bringing back a lot of players, it should be an interesting race, we look forward to it.”

    GRABBING THE REBOUND, Plains junior Taryn Merdith secures a rebound as Taylor Pyette of Florence tries to get a hand in on the action in Pablo March 5. (John Hamilton/vp-mi)
  

    JUMP SHOOTING Horsemen freshman Jackson Revier gets off a shot on the baseline during Plains’ Western B tourney game with Anaconda in Pablo Thursday. (John Hamilton/vp-mi)