BMHS JV boys extend winning streak to nine

Longhorns start league play with two victories

The Battle Mountain High School junior varsity boys basketball team entered the Christmas break in strong fashion by extending its winning streak to nine games.

The Longhorns were busy last week with three games, starting with a 50-11 road win at Wells on Tuesday, Dec. 15. Battle Mountain made its way to Lake Tahoe this past weekend to Division III North play and defeated North Tahoe 56-10 on Friday and Incline 42-41 on Saturday.



BMHS crushes North Tahoe

Despite some offensive struggles to begin the game, Battle Mountain’s defense was dominant, holding North Tahoe scoreless in the first half in taking a 31-0 lead at halftime.

The Longhorns increased the lead to 41-3 in the second half, and much of the fourth quarter was played with a running clock as part of the 40-point mercy rule.

Mason Fuller outscored North Tahoe by himself with 13 points, Gabe Naveran added 10 and Reese Artz, Alex Valles and Danny Diaz had six points apiece.

“We pulled out three road wins in one week, and that was huge,” said BMHS coach Tyler Samuelson. “Against North Tahoe, we really struggled shooting the ball early. Sitting on the bus all day really took a lot out of us, and we took a little while to get started, but our defense never faltered, which allowed us to find our offense a little slower than usual.”



BMHS rallies to beat Incline

In the closest game in the stretch of nine wins, Battle Mountain rallied in the third quarter to outscore Incline by nine points and the Longhorns had to hold off the Highlanders in the final seconds.

“Incline gave us the toughest test of the week,” Samuelson said. “They always play hard in their gym, and this was no different. It was back and forth throughout the entire game, neither one of us could seem to pull away. We’d get up by five points and it would look like the tide was turning our way, then they’d go on a run and go up by six.”

Battle Mountain was up 40-39 with 13 seconds to play, when Incline drew a foul and went to the free throw line. The Highlanders missed both free throws but go the ball back on an offensive rebound and Battle Mountain fouled again.

This time, Incline made both fouls shots to go up 41-40 with 11 seconds to play. Incline went full-court man-to-man press defense making it tough to get the ball in for the Longhorns.

Fuller got the ball on the left wing with about :06 left to play, drove right across the lane and put up a tough runner/layup fading to his right. The ball rolled around the rim once before falling in with :03 left. Battle Mountain stole Incline’s quick inbound pass to seal the victory.

“That was the closest game I’ve ever been apart of as a coach, or player,” Samuelson said. “It was amazing seeing Mason go up with that shot. Time seemed to slow down while it was going up. You could almost hear a pin drop in that moment. Then the ball rolled in and our bench and fans erupted. We made it a little harder than it had to be, going 0-11 from the free throw line throughout the game, but we never gave up. Even looking at a one-point deficit with 11 seconds left, there wasn’t a whole lot of doubt that we could finish that game. Mason made an incredible shot to pull that win out.”

Fuller led Battle Mountain with 14 points, Artz had 12 and Naveran eight.



Longhorns breeze past Leopards

Battle Mountain started the week with a familiar opponent in Wells on Tuesday, Dec. 15. The two were playing for the third time this year, with nearly the same result.

The Longhorns held the Leopards scoreless in the first and third quarters, outscoring the Division IV school 29-0 in the process.

Fuller and Artz paced the Longhorns with 14 and 11 points, respectively, and Naveran had seven points.

“Playing Wells for the third time in seven days, we both knew each other really well, and we had to work really hard to get into our offensive sets and get into a rhythm,” Samuelson said.

Battle Mountain is back on the floor on Saturday, Jan. 2, to host West Wendover at 12:30 p.m.