Prairie senior Matthew Kogler goes up for a layup.
Battle Ground junior Jaiden Linville drives past a Falcon defender.
Prairie junior Kam Osborn slashes to the hoop in the first half against Battle Ground last Friday night at Prairie High School.
They may not be in the same league, but the desire to lay claim as the better of the Battle Ground school districts’ two major high schools, in any given sport, runs deep in athletes, coaches and fans at Battle Ground and Prairie high schools.
This time it was basketball. The two faced off in a fast-paced game last Friday night at Prairie High School — the only time they’ll meet this year — and the Falcons pulled out a 65-58 win on the back of their junior point guard Kam Osborn.
With only one player on the varsity roster under 6 feet tall, the Falcons put their length and height to work against the Tigers with a full-court press, hoping to force ball handlers to either pass over them or through lanky-arm-filled passing lanes — if they managed to escape the sideline traps.
Battle Ground, a young team with only two seniors but plenty of their own height, turned the ball over a few times at the hands of the full-court press, but for the most part managed to break down the press by passing and moving quickly up the floor, hoping to avoid traps by not having one player hold the ball for very long.
At the end of the first quarter, the Falcons were up 19-14, but the Tigers had cut it only a two-point lead by the half, in part because of their tenacious rebounding.
The Tigers briefly took a two-point lead midway through the third quarter, but ultimately Osborn and the leadership he brings to the court proved too much.
Through a physical third quarter that saw the Falcons lose the lead for the first time, Osborn said he continually reminded his team to focus on the next play.
“You just gotta focus on the next play,” he said.
In the second half, Osborn made big play after big play, seemingly at the moments the Falcons needed to stave off a Battle Ground run the most. His ball-handling prowess kept Tiger defenders on their heels, and his court awareness continually led to scoring opportunities for his teammates. And if he wasn’t finding the open man on a drive-and-dish, he was scoring himself, including five points on two possessions midway through the fourth that helped squash Battle Ground’s comeback attempt during a period when the Falcons had three turnovers. Osborne finished with 25 points, 15 of which came in the second half.
Battle Ground Head Coach Manny Melo was not discouraged by the loss, noting many positive things he saw from his young squad that showed a fire he’s been looking for.
“We got good looks, we just didn’t make them,” said the Battle Ground graduate, who spent the last four years on the Hockinson boys basketball coaching staff, including head coach the last two seasons.
Melo also thought his team played well under the pressure of a full-court press and said he didn’t make any in-game adjustments.
“We did fine. There was a couple times here and there where we got out of ourselves and played a little too fast, but for the most part I thought we handled it great,” he said. “We game planned for it. We were ready for it. We did a great job. We were in a spot to win the game at the end but we didn’t make shots.”
“We took not just one step, but multiple steps forward. Defensively, it was a great game for us. Even though we lost the game, we made them for for everything they got. There was nothing easy out there.”
“He’s just not afraid of making those big plays,” said Prairie Head Coach Kyle Brook, of Osborn. “He hit some tough shots there at the end of the game.”
Prairie kept their full court press in place throughout the whole game, but it was a charge by senior Matthew Kogler at the start of the fourth quarter that fully shifted momentum Prairie’s way and got the players and coaches charged.
“Those were big bang bang momentum plays for us,” Brooks said of the two charges Kogler took during the game.
Brooks also commended his team’s rebounding effort and overall grit.
“Our guys knew we need to be tougher” said Brooks, referring to a loss at Skyview on the Tuesday prior. “I thought we came out and played a lot tougher against a physical Battle Ground team.”
This was the Falcon’s first win of the season, putting them at 1-3. Battle Ground is 3-2.
Stat highlights
For Battle Ground, senior Elijah Parker finished with 15 points and freshman Kaden Perry had 9. In addition to Osborne’s 25 points, senior Dante Heitschmidt had 11 and sophomore AJ Dixon had 10 for Prairie.
