The Battle Mountain High School junior varsity boys basketball team continued its red-hot streak with two more victories at home last weekend.
The Longhorns extended their winning streak to seven games, beating North Tahoe 60-29 on Friday and Incline 38-30 on Saturday afternoon.
“We had a good weekend, beating both Tahoe schools,” said BMHS coach Tyler Samuelson. “We started off really sluggish on Friday and didn’t make very many shots early in the first quarter. We opened up our scoring a little better in the second, but our defense wasn’t nearly as good, and we were only up by 12 at halftime.”
BMHS rolls past Lakers
Battle Mountain jumped out to a quick eight-point lead in the first quarter and led 26-14 at halftime. The Longhorns began to further pull away in the third quarter and used a 15-4 run in the final eight minutes to push the margin above 30 points,
Gabe Naveran paced the Longhorns with 11 points, Mason Fuller added 10 and Nestor Miramontes nine.
“We really broke open the lead in the second half. We hit six 3-pointers in the half, and North Tahoe really couldn’t stop us. It was the first time all season that everyone that played scored, so even when our bench came in, we were scoring in the second half.”
Longhorns hold off Highlanders
It was different story on Saturday, as Battle Mountain found itself in a fight with Incline. Each squad had trouble finding the basket, with Battle up 22-21 after three quarters.
The Longhorns (17-2 overall, 7-1 Division III North) were able to pull away in the fourth, outscoring the Highlanders 16-9 in the final eight minutes.
“It was a defensive battle,” Samuelson said. “What it really came down to was rebounding. We were just physically stronger than them, and we chased down every loose ball and every rebound that we needed. Their defense made it tough to get any good shots up. They have really good on-the-ball defense, and their rotation is incredible. Finally, they just got tired and couldn’t keep up the defense that was stymieing us earlier in the game.”
Fuller led all scorers with 19 points, Reese Artz added nine and Danny Diaz five.
Battle Mountain travels to West Wendover on Friday for a 4:30 p.m. start. The Wolverines are one of only two teams to beat the Longhorns this year.
