The Battle Mountain High School junior varsity closed out its season in style with a pair of wins to finish off a 10-game winning streak.
The Longhorns had little trouble with Silver Stage on Friday, winning 74-45, but the squad needed to come from behind on Saturday to beat Pershing County 47-43. Battle Mountain ended the year at 10-1 in the Division III North and 20-2 overall. The only league loss was to West Wendover.
BMHS cruises by Nighthawks
Battle Mountain’s offense was in high gear on Friday night, opening the first quarter with 22 points. The Longhorns led 37-25 at halftime and pulled away from the Nighthawks with a 23-10 run in the third quarter. That spurt extended the margin to 60-35 and Battle Mountain never looked back.
Mason Fuller and Gabe Naveran paced the Longhorns with 18 and 13 points, respectively. Alex Valles added eight points.
“We really exploded on offense Friday night, having a 22 point first quarter, and a 23 point third quarter,” said BMHS coach Tyler Samuelson. “We shot lights out, with our bench scoring 31 of our 74 points. Defensively, we struggled a little bit, but our offense carried us through this one.”
Longhorns hold off Mustangs
The season finale looked to be cake walk in the early minutes, as Battle Mountain dominated the first 16 minutes of play. The Longhorns led 13-3 after the first quarter and extended the margin to 22-9 at halftime.
However, Pershing County had other ideas, as the Mustangs came out of the break and knocked down seven 3-point field goals to cut the gap to 34-33. Pershing County came back to take the lead for a short time.
Battle Mountain regrouped after the Pershing County rally to hold on for the four-point win.
Fuller led Battle Mountain with 22 points and Naveran had eight. Reese Artz and Danny Diaz each scored four points.
“It was a tale of two halves really for us,” Samuelson said. “We held Lovelock to 10 points in the first half, but they came out in the third quarter with those seven 3-pointers. Playing Lovelock, it’s always a little more intense than when we play other teams, and we really stepped up today. They played us tough down the stretch, but we’ve been in so many close games this year that we knew what we needed to do to win.”
