Plainsmen’s season ends against Bayard

The Perkins County boys’ basketball team looked like it would punch its ticket to the finals of the C2-12 subdistrict Feb. 22 against Bayard (16-10). The Tigers had other plans and used a big fourth quarter to send the Plainsmen home for good.
Perkins County started off its scoring with a conventional three-point play by Blake Garner. Hunter Garner scored the Plainsmen’s next seven points leaving PCS trailing 10-14 at the end of the first quarter.
Perkins County kept nibbling away at the deficit in the second quarter. Triston Hite and Hayden Foster each made two two-point field goals, with Ryder Potts adding one of his own. PCS went 3-9 from the charity stripe and headed to the locker room at halftime trailing 23-26.
Good defense gave PCS the lead in the third quarter. The Plainsmen only allowed three field goals over the first eight minutes after halftime. Offensively, Foster scored six points and H. Garner scored four points. Perkins County also got points from Hite, B. Garner and Casey Hanson as the Plainsmen took a 39-32 advantage into the final stanza.
Two Bayard players scored 18 of the Tigers’ final 21 points. B. Garner and Foster each scored four points in the fourth quarter as Bayard closed the gap. H. Garner and Potts also added Perkins County baskets.
PCS led by seven points with three minutes left in the game, but Plainsmen Head Coach Coy Gager said PCS went cold. In the end it was Bayard that hit the shots it needed, leaving PCS on the short end of the 51-53 score.
Gager said the Plainsmen played well and worked hard.
Foster scored a game-high 15 points for PCS. Garner also finished in double figures with 13 points.
Perkins County only made 10-25 free throws in the loss.