By Jayden Mies
Freelance Reporter
Special to the Tribune
Recently, the Pratt High School Boys’ Basketball team competed in the annual Hoisington Winter Jam midseason tournament. This was a one-week tournament that featured seven other teams, and it also offered some needed competition for the Greenbacks.
With their impressive 6-2 to the 2024-25 season, Pratt was able to earn the #1 seed this year. This meant that they would first face off against the #8 seed, which was Minneapolis. This game was on Monday, January 20 at the Hoisington Activity Center.
The first half of the game went back and forth, with each team trading shots. At one point, Pratt was even down by a few points late in the second quarter. However, the Greenbacks had a better second half, as they were able to establish a lead and keep it for the rest of the game. They won their opening game by a final score of 46-34.
This game held both positives and improvements that could be made. First, Pratt outrebounded Minneapolis 34-28, and the Greenbacks added a monstrous 9 blocks, which were mainly racked up by Arley Morrell and Caleb Strong. The Greenbacks also shot 69% from the free throw line. However, they only shot 40% and 15% from the field and three respectively, and they would like to see these numbers increase. Fortunately, they were able to hold Minneapolis to a mere 25% from the field, greatly limiting their score. This win was also Head Coach Chris Battin’s 100th win as a Greenback, which is a great feat to accomplish.
With this win, Pratt advanced to the semifinals, where they faced the #4 seed Victoria. The first quarter of this contest was back-and-forth as well, but Pratt began to heat up on both sides of the ball in the second quarter, and they didn’t look back. After a solid offensive performance, Pratt won by a final score of 64-41.
There were several positive stats from this game on both offense and defense. First, Pratt shared the ball very well, collecting 12 total assists. They also applied constant pressure with their defense, tallying an incredible 18 steals. From the field, they shot 60%, but only 12% from three and 45% from the line. However, stifling defense was the key for the Greenbacks in this game, and they advanced to the championship with this win.
The final contest was held on Saturday, January 30. Hoisington, the #7 seed, caused a few upsets on the other side of the bracket and were able to advance to the championship against Pratt. This game would be a rematch of the two teams’ previous contest a week prior to the tournament. Pratt won their first meeting, and they were hoping to do it again in the championship.
Pratt had a slow start to the game in the first half, scoring only 12 points to Hoisington’s 19. However, they began to heat up again in the third quarter, which, statistically, has been Pratt’s highest scoring quarter this season. They outscored the Cardinals 14-6 here, which meant that the score was 26-25 in favor of Pratt at the end of that quarter.
The fourth quarter was the highest scoring for both teams, as they kept trading buckets back and forth. As the game neared its end, Hoisington drew a shooting foul with just six seconds left when it was a tied ballgame, 42-42. They missed the first free throw, but made the second, giving Pratt one chance to win the game with a bucket. However, Strong’s three-point shot went wide, and the Greenbacks lost the championship by a heartbreaking score of 42-43.
Although this wasn’t the finish they were hoping for, the boys did several things well throughout the tournament. They improved their defensive game, got stops when it mattered, and began to share the ball better. They will look to continue improving in the coming practices until their next contest. This will be on Friday, January 31, when Pratt will host the Nickerson Panthers in a CKL matchup.
