It all came down to one really bad quarter of play, and it cost the Plains Horsemen dearly.

Fighting for seeding position into the rapidly approaching District 14C tournament, the Horsemen lost a key conference encounter 76-66 to Charlo in Charlo Friday. The Vikings took charge of that game once and for all by running away with the second quarter 26-6 and went from trailing 16-12 when it started to leading 38-22 by the time it was over.

And the Horsemen never recovered in the second half.

“We dug ourselves a hole in that second quarter, and it was too big of a hole to dig our way out of,” Plains coach Tyrel Allen said adding. “It’s never fun to get beat, especially in a game with tournament implications like that.”

Connor Koenig scored 22 points and Landers Smith 20 to lead Charlo to its second win of the season over Plains.

Derick Curry scored a game-high 23 points to pace Plains, Matt McCracken added 14, Treydon Brouillette 12, Jake Weyers eight, Esvin Reyes three and Nathan Feliska two.

The Horsemen got back on the winning track by defeating the Troy Trojans 50-43 in Plains Saturday.

“A win is a win but I don’t feel like we played that well against Troy,” Allen offered. “But, to their credit, the switching defenses they used seemed to keep us off balance, they were able to force us into some uncharacteristic turnovers.”

Curry dropped 20 points on the Trojans to lead Plains to the win, Brouillette added 10, Nathan McNulty seven, McCracken six, Weyers three and Reyes and Tucker Foster two apiece.

The Horsemen have two tough games on tap this week, visiting two-time State C champion Arlee Thursday and visiting District 13C contender Seeley-Swan Saturday.

“We will play hard against Arlee,” Allen promised, “and Seeley-Swan could also be a tough matchup, they all shoot the ball well from the outside, even with their bigs.”