Bo Thunell splits the defense of Enterprise in a 60-59 win for the Grant Union High School boys' basketball team on Saturday night. The Eagle/DAVID CARKHUFF

The Grant Union boys basketball team remained in contention for a post-season playoff berth, holding on to third place in the Wapiti League with an 8-4 record and a 9-13 overall mark, after splitting a pair of weekend games.

On Friday, Feb. 14, the Prospectors suffered from cold shooting and fell to host Pine Eagle 66-45.

In their final home game of the season on Saturday, Feb. 15, a last-second shot by Trevor Simmons gave Grant Union a come-from-behind 60-59 victory over Enterprise.

Grant Union def. Enterprise 60-59

JOHN DAY – Grant Union trailed for most of the game on Saturday before Bo Thunell was able to feed Simmons a pass in the lane with two seconds showing on the clock.

Almost like something you would read in a novel about the heroics of a senior basketball player in his final home game of the season, Simmons knocked down his 31st point of the game to give the Prospectors a 60-59 victory over Enterprise.

The Savages were in charge most of the game, with Enterprise taking an 18-8 after the first quarter of action.

During the first quarter, the game was delayed for a lengthy period of time when Enterprise’s Grady Rawls went down with a serious ankle injury and was taken from the court to the hospital by ambulance.

As things turned out, Rawlins’ injury would not be the first the Savages would suffer on the evening.

In the second period, the game was again delayed when Enterprise’s Andy Marcum suffered a possible neck injury after crashing to the floor while driving to the basket for a shot.

This required an ambulance to be summoned to the Grant Union gym for a second time.

“I think they fed off the two injuries and we didn’t,” Grant Union coach Mike Workman said. “We came out with a lot of fire to start the game and after their two players got hurt, we went flat.”

The Prospectors trailed 33-24 at halftime before finally getting their offensive production on track.

In the third quarter, Simmons scored 11 points as Grant Union put a total of 21 points on the board to trim the Enterprise lead to 47-45.

“The kids sucked it up in the second half,” Workman said. “Teams zone us and know we like to shoot the ball from the perimeter, and we didn’t shoot the ball well the whole weekend. Because of our size we don’t score very much from the inside game. Trevor Simmons had an exceptional game and Andy Ellison shut down the Gomes kid, their point guard. It seems like every time I look in the box scores, I see he had 19 points, and I don’t think he had but six or eight tonight. The Gilbert kid was tough and did just about everything. Our kids came back with a lot of heart, and this was a big win for us.”

The two teams exchanged the lead down the stretch in the fourth quarter before Simmons was able to tally the winning basket.

Taylor Schmadeka scored 12 points and Thunell added 10 for Grant Union.

Enterprise was paced by Tim Gilbert with 24 points, and Kevin Gomes had 12 points.

“We have a big weekend coming up with games against Joseph and Imbler. Right now, the worst we can finish is in a tie for third place. A win this weekend will put us in sole possession of third place heading into the playoffs,” Workman said.

Pine Eagle def. Grant Union 66-45

HALFWAY – Poor shooting was Grant Union’s downfall in the Prospectors’ 66-45 loss to the Spartans on Friday.

Workman said the team’s shooting percentage from the field was in the 20s, and that was the difference in the game.

“I don’t think we were ready to play tonight,” Workman said. “We passed the ball poorly, defended poorly and shot poorly, especially in the second half. This is the poorest I’ve seen us play since early in the season. We shot 29 percent from the field and they shot 55 percent. That adds up to a 20-point loss.”

Pine Eagle out-scored the Prospectors in every quarter of the game putting up a whopping 44 points in the second half while holding Grant Union to 26, to win going away.

Schmadeka was the only player in double figures for Grant Union with 13 points. Simmons and Thunell had eight points apiece.

Pine Eagle had four players in double figures led by Dan Kaesemeyer with a game-high 19 points. Scott Anderson scored 14 points and Kyle Durr and Patrick Stromer added 15 and 12 points respectively.

Grant Union plays at Joseph in a 1 p.m. game on Friday, Feb. 21, and closes out the regular season at Imbler on Saturday, Feb. 22, at 1 p.m.