Jacks fall to Prosser in CWAC opener

QUINCY — The Jackrabbits opened their Central Washington Athletic Conference schedule with Friday’s game against Prosser, falling 67-51 to the Mustangs. 

Quincy held a two-point advantage late in the first half, but a 9-0 Prosser run gave the Mustangs the lead for good in the league opener. 

“It seemed tonight, for whatever reason, we didn’t play with enough dog in us,” head coach Scott Bierlink said. “Didn’t have the energy we probably should have had, but credit to Prosser — they played really well. Played good enough defense and were able to move the ball.” 

Following four lead changes in the first half, Quincy sophomore Dwane Lind stole the ball and laid it in for a basket to put the Jacks up 22-18 with two minutes to go in the first half — however, the Mustangs capitalized on two turnovers down the stretch of the second quarter to build a 27-22 lead going into the locker room for halftime. 

“I don’t know if we ran out of gas, we’re not real deep,” Bierlink said. “(Prosser) is a veteran team, they’ve got some size. I think that wore on us a little bit.” 

Prosser then began the third quarter on a 10-2 run, holding a consistent double-digit lead throughout the rest of the game. 

“I felt we came out of the half a little slow,” junior Pierce Bierlink said. “We picked it up a little bit, they just went on a run and we couldn’t stop them.” 

Quincy started to make shots late in the third and early in the fourth quarter but struggled on the defensive end against Prosser’s height advantage. 

“We hit a couple shots, but we’ve got to be able to get stops,” Bierlink said. “It felt like we were trading baskets there for a little bit, and we’ve got to go on a run to be able to climb our way out, and we’ve got to do it on the defensive side of things.” 

Pierce Bierlink led the Jackrabbits with 27 points Friday night, followed by Lind with 11 and junior Erick Zepeda with five. 

While the scoreboard didn’t fall Quincy’s way in Friday’s matchup, Scott Bierlink said there are plenty of takeaways from the Jackrabbits’ league opener. 

“It’s a 16-point loss, but for the most part, we were in it up until the last two or three minutes,” Bierlink said. “We’re a young team ... we’ve got a bunch of new guys, new faces. We’re feeling the team out. We’ve got great team chemistry; all these guys get along. It’s going to take some time for us to gel and figure out how to move the ball on offense. We’re going to be a much better team when we play these guys the second time around.” 

Quincy traveled to Grandview on Saturday, but scores were not available in time for press deadline. The Jacks travel to Selah on Tuesday and host Ephrata in the Battle of the Basin on Friday. 

Pierce hits 1,000 points 

Down by four points midway through the second quarter, Pierce Bierlink received a pass from Lind on the left corner facing the basket and fired off a shot. 

“I knew I was in the corner and open — I think it was Dwane (Lind) that passed me the ball there, and I knew as soon as I got it that I had space and could knock that down,” Pierce said. “I felt as soon as it left my hands, this went in.” 

The basket gave Pierce 1,001 career points — the junior guard entered the game nine points shy of crossing the 1,000-point mark in his high school career. 

While he knew how close he was coming into the game, he said he didn’t want to try and force anything. 

“I just tried to let it come to me, I didn’t want to try and force anything –—especially against Prosser, a good team,” Pierce said. “After I got it, I felt like I was forcing a little too much maybe, but after I got it, I felt like all that came off and everything was just about the game now.” 

Pierce is the ninth Jackrabbit in team history to reach the millennium mark. 

“Any time that happens, that’s pretty special — there's only been nine of them now in Quincy’s history,” said Scott Bierlink, Pierce’s father. “It’s a very special achievement. He started as a freshman, his older brother got to 1,000, so he was gunning for that. He’s a special player, he puts a lot of time and effort into it.” 

His older brother, TreyVaughn Bierlink, graduated from Quincy in 2022 and is third on the Quincy all-time scoring list. 

“It’s definitely a surreal feeling, watching my older brother get it and now I’m the next — I just want to break his record just to make him mad,” Pierce joked. 

Last season, Quincy had two players score their 1,000th career points with Aidan Bews and Julian Ibarra both reaching the mark.  

Pierce shared the floor with Bews and Ibarra his first two seasons at Quincy.

“If those guys were not there for me to look up to, I would not be here,” Pierce said. “Those guys were amazing mentors for the first two years, the best mentors any high school player could have. They really pushed me in practice, pushed me in games. They let me know what I can do.” 

Along with TreyVaughn, 2022 graduate Aidan Heikes also scored more than 1,000 career points.  

“Maybe my teams like to score and we have to play a little better defense,” Scott laughingly said. 

Now that he’s cross-scoring his 1,000th point off, Pierce said he has bigger goals for the Quincy boys basketball team. 

“I just want to get this team to state — I've never been to state yet, we missed out twice my last two years with pretty talented teams. That’s my goal now, after hitting (a thousand points),” Pierce said. “I don’t care about the points, I just want to get to state.” 

Box Score 

PRO: 17-10-23-17 67
QCY: 13-9-14-15 51 

    Quincy sophomore Dwane Lind, in white, drives toward the basket during the second half against Prosser on Friday. Lind finished the game with 11 points.
  

    Quincy junior Erick Zepeda (3) brings the ball up the floor during the second quarter against Prosser on Friday.
  

    Quincy players and coaches smile for a photo after the game, celebrating Pierce Bierlink scoring his 1,000th career point.