It was quite the week for the Battle Mountain High School junior varsity boys basketball team, who saw both games down to the final seconds. Fortunately, for the Longhorns they came away on the winning side on both occasions to improve to 3-1 in the Division III North and 12-2 overall.
BMHS uses last-second shot beat Colts
Battle Mountain traveled to Elko on Tuesday, Jan. 8, to take on Independence, who restarted its sports programs this year. In game that was close throughout, Reese Artz made a layup with two seconds to play to give the Longhorns a 45-43 win. Battle Mountain took the ball out of bounds with 11 seconds to go and made it way down the floor for the game-winning shot.
Independence jumped out to a 15-12 advantage in the first quarter and held it for much of the game. Battle Mountain finally went in front by three points at the end of the third quarter and the game was back-and-forth from there, until the wining basket by Artz.
Gabe Naveran had 17 points and four rebounds in the victory, while Mason Fuller had 14 points, five assists and four steals. Artz contributed nine points and 14 rebounds.
“We overcame some early troubles in this one,” said BMHS coach Tyler Samuelson. “Independence had the lead from the second quarter until the last couple minutes, but we kept fighting and pulled out another close win.”
BMHS comes back to beat Lions in OT
The excitement level was just the same as it was a few days before, with Battle Mountain returning home to take on Yerington on Friday night.
The Longhorns were down by four points at the start of the fourth quarter. But rallied in the final minute to send the game into overtime. Battle Mountain made a free throw to cut the deficit to three points, and with 10 seconds to play, Fuller knocked down a 3-point field goal to tie the game at 46.
Yerington had a chance to win the game in regulation, but was called for an offensive foul with 1.4 seconds to play. Battle Mountain dominated the overtime period to avenge an earlier loss to the Lions. Yerington made a couple shots in the final seconds to make the score appear closer than it was.
“We turned the ball over a lot early, and gave up too many offensive rebounds in the third quarter,” Samuelson said. “We were only down four points going into the final period, so we knew that we had a chance.”
Fuller had a team-high 28 points to go with six rebounds. Danny Diaz added nine points and five assists. Artz had eight points and 11 rebounds and Naveran five points and six rebounds.
“We knew that we could win this one, with all the close games we’ve won this year, we have the experience to know how to pull out wins in down to the wire games,” Samuelson said.
Battle Mountain hosted Independence on Tuesday night and results were not available at press time. The Longhorns travel to Lovelock on Friday to play Pershing County at 4:30 p.m. and at Silver Stage on Saturday at 12:30 p.m.
