The Wildcats matched the Warriors for most of the night in their Little 4 opener in boys basketball on Thursday night, but if they want to secure a place in this year’s Dick Niclai tournament they’ll need to play a little more consistently.

The Ferndale boys traveled to Hoopa and fell 51-45, with the home team finishing the game stronger.

The Cats led by three at halftime and the teams were tied going into the fourth quarter, but the Warriors would outscore Ferndale 14-8 in the final period to secure the all-important victory.

“As disappointing as it was to see it slip away from us, we were in control of the game until the final few minutes,” Ferndale head coach Tristen Waters said. “We played pretty solid defense, but had too many careless turnovers.”

With the loss, the Wildcats dropped to 0-1 in conference and 3-7 overall.

But Waters believes his team will learn from the loss as they look to close out the season with a surge.

“We are trying to find ways to finish games,” the coach added. “I’d say this was our first real nail-biter, so we can only get better from the loss.”

There were several bright spots for the Wildcats.

Sophomore Prescott Langer scored a game-high 17 points and did a good job getting some inside looks.

“He is proving to be our No. 1 force offensively,” Waters said.

Thomas Fergison also continued to impress and added 14 points.

“He was being a playmaker for us throughout the night,” Waters said of Fergison. “I’m proud of Thomas for finding his teammates.”

Tanner Pidgeon added five points and played with an “all heart and no-hype mentality,” according to the coach, while Isaak Kasso chipped in four points and once again was a force on the boards.

“He limits second chance points and gets us a lot of second chances,” Waters said of Kasso. 

The Wildcats will try to bounce back when they host Hayfork (7-3) on Tuesday night, before resuming conference play with a tricky home game against South Fork two days later.

And the Cats are showing signs of improvement despite their late start to the season after such a memorable playoff run in football for the school and most of the players.

“We are finding a lot of things out as we are heading down the straight section of the season, as tough as that may be for us with a lack of reps,” the coach said. “We will put the pieces together and figure out how to close games strong.”