Making four 3-point field goals over the course of a game is considered admirable.

Making four in one quarter is simply feeling it.

Prairie’s Thomas Eilers drilled four 3-pointers in the first quarter and five in the game to propel Prairie past Xavier Tuesday night, 45-31, at Xavier’s gym.

Eilers’ strong first quarter, combined with a stingy defensive effort by the Hawks, was too much for the Saints. Xavier (7-6, 3-5) fought valiantly down the stretch, but Prairie (5-9, 4-5) complemented a big halftime lead with suffocating defense.

The first quarter belonged to Eilers. He stepped behind the arc and swooshed his first 3-pointer less than two minutes into the game, and before you could blink he nailed three more.

“I try to get my opportunities and take them when I’m open,” said Eilers. “It just opened up that way and Coach always tells me to be ready to shoot, so I was ready and my teammates kept feeding it to me.”

It was easy to feed him, too, because he was basically shooting from anywhere on the court. Two of his shots were from well behind an NBA range 3-pointer.

Despite Eilers’ hot hand, Prairie failed to mount much of a lead and led the Saints 16-14 after one quarter. Then they turned up the heat on defense.

Applying stifling man-to-man pressure, the Hawks forced the Saints into several second-quarter turnovers. Those free possessions and resulting momentum led to a few offensive runs by Prairie. This pushed the Hawks to a 30-16 lead over the flustered Saints at halftime.

“We really wanted to focus on defense and I think we did that tonight,” said Prairie Coach James Moses. “Our defense can create our offense.

"If we could get stops on the defensive end, that would boost our confidence on the offensive end and I think that’s what you saw tonight.”

Prairie’s defensive success was certainly a team effort, but Jace Hanna masterfully pestered Xavier’s point guards all night. And Bryce Meeker bodied up the Saints' big man Matt Nelson, holding him to only four points.

Prairie stayed the course during the second half, widening its lead. Eilers nailed his fifth 3-pointer with four minutes left in the game to make it 45-29.

Eilers scored 17 and Hanna chipped in 11. Trey Sampson led Xavier with 10 points.

Moses attributed much of the win to a recent losing road trip.

“We had a nice trip when we went to Waterloo West. We didn’t get the result we wanted, but we came together," he said. "When a team comes together it can be a beautiful thing.”

PRAIRIE (45): Hanna 4 2-2 11, Harper 4 0-0 8, Eilers 6 0-0 17, Meeker 0 0-0 0, Mougin 2 0-0 4, Simpson 1 1-2 3, Kuchemann 0 0-0 0, Bechtel 0 0-0 0, Mims 1 0-0 2. Totals 18 3-4 45.

XAVIER (31): Sampson 4 0-0 10, Nelson 1 2-4 4, Woods 4 0-1 9, Winker 0 0-1 0, McDermott 2 0-0 4, Schulte 2 0-0 4, Thinnes 0 0-0 0, Bisenius 0 0-0 0, Downey 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 2-6 31.

Halftime - Prairie 30, Xavier 16. 3-point goals - Prairie 6 (Eilers 5, Hanna 1), Xavier 3 (Sampson 2, Woods 1).