The Battle Mountain High School junior varsity boys basketball team finished up its season with a busy last week that included two wins in three games.
Battle Mountain took on North Tahoe on Monday, Feb. 6, and beat the Lakers 49-12. The Longhorns jumped out to a 20-5 lead in the first quarter and never looked back.
Roberto Esparaza, Marcus Jury and Eddie Morfin each had seven points.
“It was weird playing on a Monday, so I thought we’d start off slow, but we did just the opposite,” said BMHS coach Tyler Samuelson. “This was one of the most balanced wins we’ve had all year. Every player scored at least three points, but no one scored more than seven.”
Battle Mountain was back on the floor on Wednesday, Feb. 8, for a make up contest with Incline. The Highlanders completed the season sweep with a 36-34 victory.
Morfin had a team-high 12 points, while Bradley Rogers added eight and Nestor Miramontes had five points.
“This was a close game that we really wanted,” Samuelson said. “They beat us in OT last time, and we knew that we could beat them this time, but we shot ourselves in the foot. We shot 5-12 free throws as a team, and missed at least four layups that we should have made, and still only lost by two. Incline shot the ball pretty well, making six 3-pointers out of 10 total field goals. We fought and had a chance at the end, but came up short.”
Battle Mountain closed out the season on Friday with a 56-48 home win over Pershing County. The Longhorns trailed by nine points after a quarter of play, but outscored the Mustangs 36-22 in the second and third quarters.
Rogers and Jury led Battle Mountain with 11 points, while Morfin added nine.
“This was a great way to end the season,” Samuelson said. “We beat a really good team, that hadn’t lost a lot of games. We had another balanced scoring game, where everyone contributed. This was the third time we’ve played this team, and the first time we beat them. We played them the first tournament of the year and lost by 18, then in the middle of the year and lost by seven. Now, at the end of the year we beat them by eight. It really showed how much we have improved over the year, and how far along we’ve come as a team.”
