It was a tale of teams on Saturday afternoon as the Battle Mountain boys basketball team played host to rival Pershing County.
The Longhorns had clinched a playoff spot the night before and still had a chance to improve its seeding in the regional tournament with a victory. Meanwhile, the Mustangs were locked into the No. 2 seed and a win or a loss did not matter.
After struggling for three quarters on offense, Battle Mountain exploded for 30 points in the fourth quarter to rally and beat Pershing County 54-50. The victory did shake up the standings. The Longhorns moved to the No. 3 seed and now avoid league-leading Yerington in the first round of the playoffs. The Longhorns and Mustangs will face off against each other again on Friday in West Wendover at 4:40 p.m. (MST). Yerington and Incline meet in the other semifinal. The championship is set for 2 p.m. on Saturday.
“We came into Saturday’s game against Lovelock knowing that a victory would not only move us up in the seeding for the regional but would also give us a confidence building win over a good team,” said BMHS coach Roger Wallock. “We battled all game long from behind but the guys stayed with the game plan we had all week in practice and we made free-throws down the stretch (Blake Dorian making 12-14) to seal the comeback.”
Pershing County looked poised to run away with the contest early, leading 9-1. The Mustangs got baskets from Jared Brinkerhoff, Marcus Nester and Nathan Wanner. Dorian gave the Longhorns their first field goal with 3:04 left in the quarter, but Brinkerhoff knocked down two more baskets to keep the Mustangs in front 14-6.
Battle Mountain netted the first seven points of the second quarter to leads 15-14 off of baskets by Dorian, Jaren Price and Regan Knight. The Longhorns managed just two points the rest of the first half and the Mustangs went back in front on two free throws by William Gattrell and a 3-pointer by Nester.
Battle Mountain continued to struggle on offense with just seven points in the third quarter. Pershing County used 3-pointers from Ethan Rhodes and Nester to build a 34-24 lead after three quarters.
The Mustangs still maintained a 38-28 lead with six minutes to go, when the Longhorns began to climb back in the contest from the free throw line. The rally was complete when Dorian made a 3-pointer with 2:20 to play to give Battle Mountain a 44-43 lead. From there, Dorian was 8-of-8 from the foul line in the final two minutes to secure the win.
Dorian led all scorers with 32 points to go with tow steals. Regan Knight had 12 points and 10 rebounds and Figueroa had two points, two steals and 11 rebounds, Miles Piramide had four points and four steals.
“We really executed some of our quick hitters to get Blake open against good defense on him from Lovelock,” Wallock said. “It was a great win for us and hopefully we can stay focused this week in practice to prepare for a rematch against Lovelock at zone.”
BMHS smashes Nighthawks
Battle Mountain started the weekend with a 58-35 win over Silver Stage. Dorian was on fire from the field with eight 3-pointers. The senior finished with 33 points and four steals. Figueroa added six points, seven rebounds, four steals and two assists
The Longhorns built a double-digit lead in the first quarter and was able to secure a playoff berth. Price had three points and six rebounds and Knight finished with five points.
“We really played unselfish against Silver Stage handing out 17 assists,” Wallock said “This was a big game because it guaranteed us a spot in the regional tournament and we came out and played really well.”
