The Battle Mountain High School basketball team faces a difficult stretch of their season, with only two home games during the month of January. The Longhorns are looking to extend their current 11-game winning streak but will face determined teams.
On Friday, Battle Mountain travels to West Wendover High School to play their third league game of the season. The Longhorns are currently 11-2 on the season already have two league wins against the North Tahoe Lakers and the Incline Highlanders.
The West Wendover Wolverines are a challenging team and currently, hold an 8-4 record on the season. The team holds a 2-0 record in league play with wins against the Yerington Lions and the Silver Stage Nighthawks.
The Longhorns and Wolverines league contest kicks off the new year and a win would provide either team with a critical step toward the regional playoffs.
After losing the first two games of the season, the Longhorns have not lost since. Mason Fuller, Miles Piramide, Chris Figueroa and Danny Diaz have played key roles in the double-digit winning streak for the Longhorns.
The Wolverines are coming off a loss to the Spring Creek Spartans, their fourth loss of the season and second to Spartans this year. West Wendover is scoring at an impressive rate so far for the season, averaging 66.3 points per game. That is compared to the Longhorns’ 56.8 points per game.
Battle Mountain edges out West Wendover in rebounds, averaging 33.6 rebounds per game while the Wolverines average 30.1. BMHS also holds a slight advantage in steals and blocks per game with 12.2 steals per game and 2.8 blocks per game. West Wendover averages 7.8 steals per game and 1.9 blocks per game.
Each team also average around 14 assists per game. The Wolverines’ Saul Palacios leads the team in points, rebounds, steals and blocks per game. Palacios averages 22 points and just under seven rebounds a game for the West Wendover.
“We begin the new year with a tough road trip to West Wendover and White Pine. Wendover is one of the best teams in our league and very quick,” said BMHS head coach Roger Wallock, “We will have to shake the rust off from our holiday break and play very well to beat them.”
The second game of the road trip will put the Longhorns up against the White Pine Bobcats on Saturday, Jan. 6. White Pine is 4-5 on the season but currently sits 1-1 in league play. The Bobcats are known to be a tough team to play at home and they’re looking to upset the Longhorns over the weekend.
“White Pine is always a battle to beat on their home court,” Wallock said. “They have some physical players and we will have to match the physicality to beat them.”
The Bobcats are averaging 12.1 points a game less than the Longhorns with a 44.7 average on the season.
The Longhorns hope to sweep the weekend games before traveling to rival Pershing County High School on Tuesday, Jan. 9. Both the Longhorn boys and girls squads are sitting in a strong position to make the postseason this year but will face some challenging competition in the coming weeks.
BMHS wrestlers
head to Idaho
The Battle Mountain High School wrestling team will be in Buhl, Idaho this weekend for a two-day tournament.
The Longhorns will be on the mats for the first time in two weeks and are looking to start the stretch to repeat as 2A state champions.
*Discalimer: Travis Masterson is the Battle Mountain junior varsity boys basketball coach.
