WINNEMUCCA - With its first two games of the season played on the road, the McDermitt High School boys basketball team was able to earn a split against Jordan Valley, Ore., and Pyramid Lake.
The Bulldogs (1-1) made the short trip Oregon on Tuesday, Dec. 10, to open the year and were defeated 46-32 by Jordan Valley.
"This was a good loss for us," said MHS head coach Austin Mayo. "Jordan Valley is a hard place to go into and get a win, especially against a team that has already been playing and it being our first game."
McDermitt trailed by a point after the first eight minutes of action, but Jordan Valley broke the game open with a 14-3 run in the second quarter to lead 25-13 at halftime.
The deficit remained about the same in the second half as Jordan Valley outscored McDermitt by just two points in the third and fourth quarters.
Senior Tyler Coble led McDermitt with 12 points and 10 rebounds to go with five steals and two blocks. Saul Lopez added nine points, four steals, three assists and a block, Tanner Coble contributed four points and three rebounds and Brendan Wilson had three points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals.
"The boys played tough, especially on defense," Mayo said. "We need to get in the habit of attacking the rim more and stop settling for jump shots and threes. All in all, though, this group of boys went to Jordan Valley and lost by 30 something last year so to only lose by 14 I think was a real accomplishment."
McDermitt was back on the road this past Friday at Pyramid Lake and defeated the Lakers 43-29 for its first win of the year. Despite some offensive struggles of its own in the first half, McDermitt held Pyramid Lake scoreless in the first quarter and led 13-9 at halftime.
"We ran into some of the same issues we had in Jordan Valley early and had trouble getting our offense rolling," added the coach. "We started to settle for low percentage shots in the second quarter, which I think is clearly reflected in the score. Lucky for us, Pyramid Lake wasn't shooting all that well either. Our defense was playing really well so that gave us time to get it figured out."
The Bulldogs came out and outscored the Lakers 12-5 in the third quarter to build an 11-point advantage and were not threatened again.
"We really did a good job of crashing the boards in this game and getting second chance points and stopping them from getting any," Mayo said.
Tyler Coble had a big night for McDermitt with 16 points and 16 rebounds. Wilson added six points, two rebounds and two steals and Leo Lorenzo an and Tanner Coble scored five points each. Alex Rincon and T.J. Smith had two points apiece.
McDermitt makes its home debut on Tuesday against Crane, Ore., at 6:30 p.m. and hosts Pyramid Lake Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.
"It's nice to get the monkey off your back, so to speak, with the first win," Mayo said. "But we need to move on and start thinking about Crane on Tuesday at home. They are going to bring a real physical, old school, get it to the big man style of basketball from what I have been told so it should be a fun challenge for our boys."
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