After picking up a split of a pair of road games in the Division III North, the Battle Mountain High School boys basketball team still has the inside track to one of the four playoff spots in February.
The Longhorns traveled to Lovelock on Friday night to renew their rivalry with Pershing County. Despite getting out to a quick start, Battle Mountain came up short in the 66-47 loss to the Mustangs.
“We show flashes of brilliance at times, but we have a hard time sustaining good basketball throughout an entire game,” said BMHS coach Roger Wallock. “We battled back to within four points in the third quarter, but turned the ball over and missed some open shots to complete the comeback.”
Battle Mountain used the 3-point shooting of Blake Dorian and Alan Rangel added in with a basket from Regan Knight to build a 10-6 lead in the first quarter. The Mustangs came back to trim the deficit to two points after the first eight minutes of play.
Knight provided the first basket of the second quarter, only to see Pershing County score the next 15 points, behind 11 points from William Gattrell on three 3-point fields goals to make the score 25-14.
“Lovelock is a solid team with a great scorer and we just couldn’t contain him,” Wallock said.
Chris Figueroa ended the run of four minutes without a point for Battle Mountain. The Longhorns closed the gap to 28-22 late in the first half, when Nathan Wanner knocked down a 3-point shot near the end of the half. The Longhorns found their shooting touch in the third quarter, as Dorian scored 11 points, including nine off of three 3-point field goals. His third bucket from long distance brought Battle Mountain within four points at 41-37 with 2:29 to play.
That was as close as the Longhorns got, with the Mustangs responding with seven consecutive points to push the advantage back to 11 points at 48-37.
A basket by Miles Piramide kept the deficit at 55-44 with 4:05 left to play, but Battle Mountain managed just three points the rest of the way. That was a 3-pointer by Rangel that brought the score to 57-47 with 3:31 left to go, but Pershing County made free throws down the stretch to get the win.
“We had to foul a very good free throw shooting team down the stretch and they made the final score look more like a blow out than it was,” Wallock said.
Dorian had 14 points and four assists to pace Battle Mountain, while Rangel added 12 points. Figueroa netted eight points to go with six rebounds, Knight had six points, Piramide five and Jaren Price had two points and three steals.
Gattrell led Pershing County with 31 points and Jared Brinkerhoff added 17.
BMHS rallies past Nighthawks
Battle Mountain may have been feeling the effects of the loss the night before in its Saturday game against Silver Stage. The Longhorns trailed at halftime, but rallied to beat the Nighthawks 54-35 to improve to 3-3 in the Division III North at 12-5 overall.
Battle Mountain shook off the slow start with an 18-5 run in the third quarter, which decided the outcome of the game. The Longhorns finished the last eight minutes with a 15-8 spurt.
“We were down two points at half against Silver Stage, but played a great third quarter holding them to five points to blow open the game and get a tough league road win,” said the coach.”
Knight finished with 12 points and rebounds in the win, with Dorian adding 12 points, five assists and five steals. Piramide was also in double figures with 12 points.
The sophomore added nine rebounds and four steals. Figueroa had nine points, Austin Wallock five, and despite not scoring Price had seven rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Battle Mountain returns home this weekend to take on North Tahoe on Friday at 7 p.m. and Incline on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. In the first meeting this year, Battle Mountain beat North Tahoe and lost to Incline in Lake Tahoe.
“We are sitting barely in the fourth spot in the division halfway through league play,” Wallock said. “We need two big wins against the Tahoe schools this next weekend to solidify our playoff position.”
