Last-second shots can't save Quincy from first loss

Mustangs 58, Jackrabbits 55

QUINCY - Despite the fact his team was probably in better basketball shape, Quincy boys head coach Wade Petersen expected nothing but a hard, drawn-out battle with the Prosser Mustangs on Tuesday night.

That's exactly what Petersen and the Jackrabbits got - and more. The Mustangs, playing their first hoops of the year after a prolonged run to the 2A football championship, rallied from a halftime deficit and won 58-55 to tip off Central Washington Athletic Conference play.

"I know they run a really good football program, so I was sure they'd be in really good shape," Petersen said. "It was a real back-and-forth game. We weren't able to get the win at the end."

Trailing by two points in the final 10 seconds, the Jacks (2-1) went for the win. They got good looks at a pair of 3-pointers, but neither went in and Prosser escaped.

"It was just a good basketball game overall," Petersen added. "Both teams played really hard."

Prosser (1-0) kept things close in the first half with full-court pressure, forcing several Quincy turnovers and getting a couple transition baskets. The Jacks had 22 turnovers in all, a number that Petersen was anything but pleased with.

"That's just too many," he said. "They hurt us a little bit with their press and their athleticism. They got some easy steals and that led to easy baskets."

Quincy also had a tough time defending 6-foot-5 senior Kellen Crawford, who led the Mustangs with 17 points. In the first half, Crawford repeatedly posted up or hit the offensive glass to score points. Senior guard Cody Bruns added 13 points for Prosser.

Quincy's big men held their own at the other end of the court, however. Chase Webley scored a much-needed 16 points and Cory Keller added 11 to compliment star shooting guard Eric Martin, who notched 17 points on three 3-pointers.

"Most of the shots (Martin) took were good ones tonight and we had pretty balanced scoring tonight," Petersen said.

The Jacks jumped to a 6-1 lead behind baskets from Jay Cedergreen, Webley and Martin. Crawford helped Prosser rally for a 9-8 lead, but Martin drilled his first trey of the night and Skyler Perez hit another to give Quincy a 14-13 lead going to the second quarter.

Martin's second 3-pointer tied the game at 18 with five minutes left in the half, and he swished another from the right wing to put Quincy up 25-22 with 1:45 to go. Keller followed with a putback basket and the Jacks maintained a 27-24 edge at the break.

But Crawford continued his onslaught in the second half.

"Kellen Crawford was extremely tough on the offensive glass," Petersen said, "so it was just kind of hard to get our defense solidified with them getting easy buckets."

The Jacks try to regroup in time for a busy weekend. They travel to Wapato on Friday before returning home on Saturday to face Toppenish. Both games start at 7:30 p.m.

Quincy's coach is keeping things low-key and reminding his players not to stress to much over one defeat.

"I just told the kids after the game that we need to shake off this loss," Petersen said. "Every league game only counts for one, so we need to make sure we don't stress too much importance off of one game."