The Prairie City/Burnt River boys pulled away late for a 79-69 win over Four Rivers in the third-place game of the High Desert League Basketball Tournament to break through into the state 1A playoffs on Saturday, Feb. 17, at Grant Union High School.

Both teams came out hot from behind the arc, swapping three-pointers until Four Rivers edged out to a 9-6 advantage. After that they swapped leads for a while, with Prairie City/Burnt River pulling ahead to end the first period up 20-15.

But the Falcons chipped away at the Panther lead, knotting the score at 30 apiece before stacking up a five-point edge at 35-30. Then it was the Panthers’ turn as the host school clawed its way back in front 37-36 at the break.

Four Rivers reclaimed the lead to start the third quarter, pulling ahead 41-37 in the early going before a three-pointer put Prairie City/Burnt River back on top 43-41. Prairie City would cling to a slender lead for the rest of the period, closing out the third with a 55-51 edge.

After the Panthers sank a two-point field goal to start the final frame, the Falcons knocked down a pair of threes to tie the game once again at 57-57. After that, however, Prairie City/Burnt River slowly began to pull away, scoring consistently while getting stops on defense to secure the win by a final score of 79-69.

Wes Voigt paced the Panthers with 21 points. Maison Teel was the team’s second-leading scorer with 19 points, including three three-point field goals, while Cayden Howard knocked down four three-pointers on his way to 18 points. Tucker Wright had 14 points, Chet Workman five and Kingdon Mitchell-Kirby two to round out the scoring.

Afterwards, Panthers head coach Kelsy Wright praised his team’s determination to succeed.

“It feels good, it really does,” he said.

“We’ve worked hard for this for a long time,” Wright added. “They’re a great bunch of boys. They’ve worked hard and they deserve every minute of it.”

The Crane boys team won the High Desert League Tournament. The top-ranked Mustangs crushed the Adrian Antelopes 70-34 in the championship game and will face Crow in the first round of the state playoffs.

The Panthers won their first-round game on Thursday 68-47 over Jordan Valley but fell 61-47 to Adrian in the semifinals on Friday to reach the consolation bracket of the three-day tournament, setting up Saturday’s showdown with the Falcons.

Prairie City/Burnt River finished regular-season play with a 13-14 overall record and a 4-2 conference mark.

The Panthers will now have a chance to play their way into the state 1A tournament, to be held Feb. 28-March 2 in Baker City. The team’s next game will be a playoff at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 20, on the road against third-ranked Open Door Christian Academy in Troutdale.

PRAIRIE CITY 68, JORDAN VALLEY 47

JOHN DAY — The Prairie City/Burnt River boys basketball team punched their ticket to the semifinal round of the 1A High Desert League tournament with a 21-point win over Jordan Valley that was much closer than the final score would suggest in a hard-fought contest on Dean Nodine Court at Grant Union High School on Thursday, Feb. 15.

The first quarter was the Wes Voigt show as the lanky Prairie City senior poured in 14 points to stake his team to a 16-11 lead.

His teammates found their range in the second period as several Panthers scored to build a 15-point lead over the Mustangs going into halftime, with the scoreboard reading 32-17 in favor of the host team.

Things turned physical in the third quarter, with both teams delivering a number of hard fouls, but Prairie City would maintain its advantage to end the period with a 44-29 lead.

The visiting Mustangs turned up the defensive heat in the final quarter, mounting a full-court press that led to several Prairie City turnovers. Jordan Valley tried valiantly to climb back into the game, trimming the Prairie City lead to nine at 49-40 with just under 4:00 left to play.

But that was a close as the Mustangs would get as the Panthers beat the press and made enough free throws to pull away, pushing the final score to 68-47 on a Ritter Rookstool layup as time expired.

The Panther boys will take on the Adrian Antelopes at 2:45 p.m. Friday, Feb. 16, at Grant Union High School for a chance to play in Saturday’s championship game.