In a single word, Prairie’s performance against Lakes to open the Class 3A bi-district boys basketball playoffs Wednesday was gritty. Though the Falcons led for all but the opening two minutes of the first quarter in a 66-61 win at home, they were tested at every turn against a Lancers team they lost to by one point in December. That included the final 90 seconds of the fourth when Lakes twice cut the deficit to one possession on Bryce McCray’s back-to-back 3-pointers. Malachi Patton and Carson Morningstar answered with baskets in both instances, and Prairie (14-7) got a defensive stop with 16 seconds left to seal the win.

“This group has been really resilient the whole season,” Prairie head coach Jimmy Tuominen. “Our record may not look amazing, we’re not 18-1 … but if you look at some of our losses, we lost four games by five points this year, we played some really good teams early on in the season so that we were prepared for this.” No. 6 seed Prairie, the 3A Greater St. Helens League champion, won its first playoff game since 2023 and advanced to a winner-to-state quarterfinal game at No. 3 Federal Way on Friday. “It definitely feels really good,” Morningstar said. “Especially getting a home game, and first of all, being league champs, putting ourselves in a great position really helped us get to where we are right now.” “It was low key insane, I’m not gonna lie,” added Patton, a sophomore. “It was my first playoff win of my high school career, and to beat a team we lost to earlier in the year, it was great.”

With all but two of their 23 field goals made inside the 3-point line, the Falcons pounded the paint against an undersized Lancers squad, frequently looking toward Morningstar, a 6-foot-8 post who scored a game-high 27 points. As the starting backcourt of Patton (19 points) and Jamir Jones (10 points) also attacked the hoop at will, the Falcons’ balanced attack and active defense prevailed. A single-digit game for all of three quarters, Prairie took its biggest lead, 57-47, with five minutes left when Jones drilled a corner 3-pointer. Lakes roared back with eight straight points from Darius Imperial, who scored all of his team-high 17 points in the second half.

But after Imperial’s 3-pointer with two minutes got the Lancers within 59-55, the Falcons matched every basket with one of their own on the other end, and held the Lancers scoreless inside the final minute. “It was all defensive, 100 percent,” Morningstar said, “because we knew if we got the ball, we could just hold the ball for 30 seconds, take the game slower and play at our speed.” The Falcons are one step closer to reaching the 3A state tournament for the first time since 2019, one of a few goals they discussed as a team around Christmas, according to Tuominen. The first was to win a league title, which they checked off by going 6-2 in the 3A GSHL and winning all but one regular-season home game. In addition to clinching a state berth, the Falcons’ ultimate goal is to reach the Tacoma Dome as one of the final 12 teams left standing.

“Hopefully we can continue to dream about that, hopefully we get an opportunity to achieve it,” Tuominen said. “Right now we’ve got an opportunity and that’s all we can ask for. We’ve got a huge challenge on Friday (against Federal Way).” With playoff appearances in each of the last three seasons, the Falcons are battle-tested by now, and they hope their experience bodes well for even tougher opponents ahead. “They’re going to be bigger, tougher, (with) higher IQ. We’ve just got to come at them with our strengths and play to their weaknesses,” Morningstar said. PRAIRIE 66, LAKES 61 LAKES (16-9) — Bryce McCray 12, Jalen Boone 11, Deonte’ Jones 4, Khaleb Chisholm 4, Darius Imperial 17, Mikey Stroud 6, Aaron Miller 5, Ray Smith 0. Totals 23 (6) 9-14 61.

PRAIRIE (14-7) — Jamir Jones 10, Malachi Patton 19, Ben Nkansah 4, Carson Morningstar 27, Daniel Carbajal-Vargas 3, Riley Burke 3, Griffin Smith 0.  Totals 23 (2) 18-25 66. Lakes                13             14             16             18—61 Prairie                 14             15             14             19—66