The McDermitt High School boys basketball team shook off two straight losses and put itself back into the picture for the top seed in the Division IV East this past weekend at home.
The Bulldogs (6-1 Division IV East, 13-7 overall) knocked off Wells 54-29 on Friday, Jan. 30, and Jackpot 50-25 on Saturday. McDermitt is now tied with Eureka for the top spot in the league at 7-1, with three games to play. Eureka still holds the tiebreaker advantage due to the win earlier in the season over the Bulldogs.
As it has been for a majority of its league contests, McDermitt started slowly against Wells. The first half was a low-scoring affair, with the two rivals combining for just 29 points. The Leopards held a slim 9-7 advantage after the first quarter and maintained a 15-14 lead into halftime.
"For a while it was 9-4 Wells and all there points were by (Armando) Serrano," said MHS coach Jack Smith. "We had a hard time getting going on offense and no one was hitting shots."
After a sluggish start on offense, McDermitt came out of the break with a 22-11 run and did not trail again. The Bulldogs put the game out of reach with an 18-3 spurt in the final eight minutes of play.
"We came out after halftime and hit back-to-back 3-pointers and that got us going," Smith said. "We wanted to speed up the game and we did that. Our press started to wear them down as the game went on. The Serrano kid was tired by the time the fourth quarter started. He is their best guy and with him tired we made a good run. The difference is we started to hit her shots and we didn't do that in the first half."
Sonny Crutcher and TJ Smith paced McDermitt with 16 and 10 points, respectively. Smith finished with a double-double, grabbing 10 rebounds. Crutcher had eight steals, five assists and four rebounds. Saul Lopez and Edgar Reyes each added eight points, Alex Rincon six, Ellison Tom three, Cauy Crutcher two and Jace Ramsey one.
McDermitt made quick work out of Jackpot on Saturday, scoring 21 of the first 23 points in the first eight minutes of the contest. The margin grew to 36-6 at halftime, as the Bulldogs cruised to the win. McDermitt led by as many as 38 points in the fourth quarter, before Jackpot closed out the game on a 17-4 run.
"Jackpot is down this year, but they play hard," Smith said. "It was a good chance for the younger players to get some time on floor. The JV kids played the entire fourth quarter. I hardly pressed and did not want to run up the score."
Crutcher and Smith each scored 13 points for the Bulldogs, while Lopez netted eight points. Reyes scored five, Tom four, Rincon three and Kyon Egan and Ramsey two each.
McDermitt travels to Carlin tonight at 7:30 p.m. and Owyhee on Saturday at 6 p.m.
"We can't go in and overlook Carlin," Smith said. "Going to Owyhee will be a tough game for us. If they get hot shooting, they are a dangerous team."
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