Senior Jordan Malmlov drops career-high 42 points

The Prescott High School boys basketball team showed flashes of offensive brilliance in its 88-68 victory on the road over Somerset in the Middle Border Conference opener on Friday, Dec. 2. Prescott improved to 1-0 with the victory.

No Cardinal had a better night than senior point guard Jordan Malmlov, who single- handedly got Prescott’s offense rolling in the first half, which included seven three-pointers and 26 points going into the halftime intermission. Malmlov finished with 42 points, five rebounds and seven assists in the 20-point win.

Throughout those 18 minutes of first-half action, Prescott flexed its muscles offensively, as Malmlov regularly hit three-pointers from what felt like the parking lot and junior forward Dallas Wallin cleaned the glass like Windex en route to a 23-rebound night.

Malmlov and Wallin led the Cardinals to a 54-30 halftime lead in what appeared to be a blowout in the making. However, throughout the second half, Prescott’s offense went cold and the defense struggled for long stretches, which Somerset promptly took advantage of. The Spartans outscored Prescott 38-34 in the closing 18 minutes of regulation.

While Somerset’s strong second half wasn’t enough to overcome the massive halftime deficit, it was enough to make longtime Prescott head coach Nick Johnson a little less happy than he otherwise would have been with a 20-point victory.

“It’s the first game, a conference game on the road, it’s a W and we’re happy about that. But the second half was very sloppy by us, both offensively and defensively,” Johnson said after the game. “We had 28 fouls tonight and we’ve got to play better defense. We’re getting beat off the drive and if we want to be a good team or a great team, it starts there. I was not very happy with our defensive effort.”

Just three minutes into the second half, Prescott’s offense had gone stale and Malmov’s intuition took over. That’s when he put together a 12-point scoring surge that included a three-pointer, a layup and seven points at the free throw line. His scoring burst helped keep the game out of reach while his team tried to find an offensive rhythm.

Despite scoring nearly 90 points, Prescott struggled to get all of its offensive players involved. Coach Johson spoke about Malmlov’s ability to go out and get 40, while still being concerned that the offense became too one-dimensional against Somerset.

“Oh, Absolutely,” Johnson said about getting concerned Malmlov was doing everything offensively. “We all know how good Jordan (Malmlov) is. He’s one of the best in the state, but we don’t need that from him to be a complete team. We need to find ways to get other people involved.”

While Malmov took care of nearly 50% of Prescott’s scoring on Friday night, the aforementioned Wallin finished with 13 points, 23 rebounds, four assists and four steals. Senior forward Brady Block had nine points, 10 rebounds and six assists in the victory.

Although Prescott was offensively inconsistent in the second half, Block put together a strong performance in his first career varsity start. He’s listed as under six foot, but plays the center position because he’s strong and can move people around. It’s also because Wallin, the team’s tallest player at 6’6” is an elite perimeter defender.

Throughout the game against Somerset, Block took advantage of his looks, found open shooters with passes and helped control the boards. Coach Johnson spoke about Block’s performance in his varsity debut as a starter.

“He’s a tough kid and that’s what we need because he’s going to go against people’s big boys,” Johnson said. “Brady (Block) was like our seven, eight, nine last year, but now we expect big minutes out of him. (Tonight) was what we expected, I thought he played very well.”

While most teams in the Middle Border Conference would be thrilled with an 88-point performance in the season opener, it left Prescott desiring more. Perhaps that’s a testament to the program’s nearly unprecedented success under coach Johnson.

Last year’s Cardinals squad finished the season with a 22-3 record and as the Middle Border Conference champions. In that 2021-22 campaign, Prescott scored just over 75 points per game and was ranked #3 in the state before being bounced in the second round of the playoffs against Osceola. Coach Johnson spoke about the expectations for this year’s team.

“Yeah, that’s the expectation every year,” Johnson said when asked about winning a conference championship. “That’s no disrespect to anyone else, but every year that’s our number one goal.”

Prescott is off to a good start in the quest for another Middle Border Conference championship with the 88-68 win over Somerset on Friday night. With the win, Prescott improves to 1-0 overall and 1-0 in league play.

The Cardinals played their first non-conference game of the season on Monday, Dec. 5, on the road against Durand. That game was slated to begin at 7:15 p.m.

Senior Brandon Stuart sets up the Cardinals’ offense during the 20-point victory on the road against Somerset on Friday, Dec. 2. Photo by Reagan Hoverman