Prairie boys basketball win streak reaches 7 before falling to tough Platteville squad
Abe Amundson (4) keeps his eye on the ball held by Cuba City’s Miles Hinderman as teammates Hunter Straka (12) and Dawson Eastman (32) help guard the interior. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
Tyler Harris floats through the lane to deliver this shot against the Cubans. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
Prairie senior Owen Teynor (44) guards Cuba City's Andy Miller (32), while Nick McCullick (22) chases after the Cubans' Miles Hinderman (4). (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
Brady Lenzendorf goes up for a layup during the Hawks non-conference win over Cuba City. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
Dawson Eastman fires a pass over the outstretched hands of Cuba City senior Andy Miller. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
Senior Max Schneider shows off against the Cuban defense with a Michael Jordan-esque reverse layup in traffic. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
Hunter Straka is forced to adjust his shot attempt mid-air thanks to the defensive presence of Henry Kruser (0). (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
Nick McCullick launches a shot attempt over the defense during the first half. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
Max Schneider fires a pass to teammate Sam Kramer despite being hounded by Cuba City players Andy Miller (34) and Trevor VanNatta (14). (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
By Derick Kelly
The Prairie du Chien boys basketball team extended their winning streak to seven straight last week thanks to a win over former conference rival Cuba City before having it snapped two days later by the Platteville Hillmen (17-3).
First up for the Hawks was a Tuesday night meeting with the Cubans. Prairie jumped out to a 28-19 lead at halftime before outscoring the visitors 33 to 28 in the second half for the 61-47 victory.
Prairie was lead in scoring by Max Schneider with 17 points and Tyler Harris with 15 points. Nick McCullick (10 points), Brady Lenzendorf (seven points), Hunter Straka (six points), Sam Kramer (four points), and Dawson Eastman (two points) all also added to Prairie’s scoring total.
The win extended the Hawks winning streak to seven games, their longest winning streak since winning 10 straight games during the 2018-19 season.
Prairie couldn’t rest on their laurels however, as they traveled to conference leader Platteville two nights later.
The Hillmen claimed a 33-24 halftime lead before quickly pushing the lead to 20 points early in the second half. The Hawks, as has been their MO this season, chipped away at the deficit using a strong defense and timely baskets. Prairie got the lead down to nine with a little over five minutes remaining in the game with a couple chances to cut the lead to seven but were unable to get the shots to fall and Platteville made key free throws down the stretch to push their lead back to 15. Platteville held on for the 63-48 win over Prairie du Chien.
The Hawks fell to 11-10 overall and 4-4 in the SWC with the loss to Platteville.
Prairie will host Richland Center on Friday night for Senior Night as the Hawks look to stay one game back of second place River Valley. The Hawks will finish the regular season on Thursday, Feb. 22, when they travel to Spring Green to face that same River Valley squad.
