Prairie City/Burnt River’s Wes Voigt takes the ball to the basket during his team’s High Desert League tournament semifinal matchup with Adrian on Feb. 17, 2023, at Grant Union High School.

MERRILL — The Prairie City/Burnt River boys basketball team traveled six hours for a state tournament showdown with Lost River on Wednesday, Feb. 22, and while not placing all the blame on the travel time, Panther head coach Kelsy Wright thinks the long bus ride contributed to his team’s 57-52 loss to the Pirates.

“It’s kinda hard to get off a bus after six and a half hours and play a pretty important basketball game. The boys did a good job,” he said.

The teams played mostly even throughout the first quarter, with Lost River taking a slim 10-12 lead into the second. The Pirates would increase their lead to 26-17 entering halftime.

“They had some big kids — they have a 6-5 kid and a couple of 6-3, 6-4 kids. They could jump out of the gym,” Wright said. “They kind of outrebounded us in the first half. If we’d have played that first half like we did the second, we would’ve won that game.”

The Panthers made some adjustments at halftime, which did give them the opportunity to win the game despite the slow start in the first half.

“A couple of times in the third quarter I believe we either tied it or went ahead by one or two points,” Wright said.

The Pirates would make their own adjustments in response to the Panther game plan. Ultimately, the Pirates would take a 41-35 lead into the fourth. The Panther comeback bid in the fourth quarter fell just short, with Lost River doing just enough to earn the 57-52 win on their home court.

Wright said Lost River did their homework on his squad in preparation for the game.

“They locked down Cole Teel pretty good — he only ended up with five points,” he said. “They locked down Eli (Wright), especially down low. Anytime he got the ball, he was either fronted or it was an automatic double- or triple-team.”

The Pirate defensive strategy did provide opportunities for other players to step up and keep the Panthers in the game, however.

“They kind of left Tucker (Wright) alone,” Wright said. “Tucker had a big night for us. He was actually our high scorer with 14 points.”

Doyal Lawrence added 10 points, Wes Voigt finished with nine and Eli Wright chipped in eight for the Panthers.

“If we would’ve had another three or four minutes, we could’ve got them,” Wright added. “I’m proud of the kids this year. They did really well. This 1A division is just way more competitive than I’ve seen in the past.”

One of the high spots in the season for Wright was coaching his son Eli for his senior season. Wright described his initial uneasiness in coaching his own kids, referencing what he’s seen go wrong when that happens.

“(Eli) came to me and he said, ‘Dad, I just want you to coach me one time in high school,’” Wright said. After some reluctance, Wright ultimately relented.

“He finally talked me into it, and I’m super-glad that he did. I don’t know what I would’ve done if I didn’t get a chance to coach my own kid. I’m super-glad that I did,” he said.

The 2022-23 season was Wright’s first as head man for the Panther boys basketball squad. Wright guided his team to an 18-10 record along with a 4-2 league record on the season.