The Prairie Falcons boys basketball team may have suffered a wide defeat to Skyview High School on Thursday, Dec. 12, but head coach Jimmy Tuominen enjoyed watching the growth of his young players.
The Falcons played a starting five with three sophomores and two juniors against a tough Skyview Storm squad in the 68-56 loss. Junior forward Carson Morningstar led the way for the Falcons with 18 points, while sophomore guard Malachi Patton added 17.
“I think it was a great opportunity for our guys to compete against a 4A school,” Tuominen said after the game. “One of the things I really like about these guys is that they just don’t quit. They’re really resilient. They just don’t stop fighting, and they really played a hard 32 minutes tonight. I tried to challenge them in the last time out about what kind of team we were going to be for the [rest] of the season. Are we one to fight or one that doesn’t compete until the very end, and they said they wanted to fight and they certainly did that tonight.”
Tuominen sees the youthful Falcons as a squad to lead Prairie boys basketball into the playoffs with the right growth through the season. In the first half of the Skyview game, the 6-foot-tall Patton laid down a two-handed dunk but held onto the rim, costing a technical foul, and Skyview Storm capitalized, making two free throws. Tuominen said his players need to mature in areas, but he has thoroughly enjoyed watching the Falcons’ athleticism.
“I think if we continue to mature and grow, there’re certainly opportunities to maybe even earn the top of the league, you know. I think we really have to continue to develop and push for them to mature,” Tuominen said. “I think we’ve seen some pieces early on in this season where at times we were a little bit immature when things are going on. There’s other times when they’re very mature. So we just have to kind of find that balance, you know.”
Tuominen said he needs to adjust, as well.
“I have to let them grow and make mistakes and then try to bring them back in a little bit,” he said. “So, I’m learning a little bit with them, too.”
Tuominen said he was pleased with how his team has gelled, citing the Falcons’ dominating performance against Battle Ground as a key moment in the young season.
“Going back to the Battle Ground game, Morningstar had a huge dunk in the second play of the game, and when I was watching film, he went up to dunk it and the four guys were all in the same screen and they all jumped at the same time that he went up to dunk,” Tuominen said. “They all landed on the floor together and just to see their excitement and joy, I’m just really excited about the group. It’s a great group of young guys that really play hard together. They really enjoy one another. I think we have a really bright future.”
The Falcons played the Columbia River Rapids on Saturday, Dec. 14, resulting in an 63-61 loss. They next hosted W.F. West (Chehalis) High School on Tuesday, Dec. 17, but results were unavailable at press time.
