The Battle Mountain High School boys basketball team concluded its preseason schedule this past weekend with three wins at the Comstock Classic in Virginia City.
Battle Mountain opened with a 52-51 win over Round Mountain on Thursday afternoon. The Longhorns led 33-27 at halftime and held off a Knights rally in the second half for the one-point win.
DJ Martinez paced Battle Mountain with 24 points, to go with three rebounds and two steals. Aldo Castellanos added 16 points, three rebounds and three steals. Freshman Austin Behrman finished with eight points and seven rebounds, while Brock Bullock and Kobe Lake each had two points. Bullock had a team-high eight rebounds and Lake collected six boards.
In its opening game on Friday, Battle Mountain posted its highest point total of the year in an 80-61 win over Sierra Lutheran.
The Longhorns doubled up the Falcons in the first quarter 24-12 and extended the lead to 49-25 at halftime. Battle Mountain maintained its double-figure advantage the rest of the way.
Battle Mountain had three players score over 20 points, led by Martinez with 26. Castellanos and Behrman each scored 21 points. Behrman grabbed 11 rebounds for a double-double, while Castellanos had six rebounds and four steals and Martinez three rebounds and two steals.
Alan Martinez added four points, Junior Vasquez three, Bullock two and Lake one. Bullock also had 10 rebounds to go with two steals and Lake had five rebounds.
In its second game on Friday, Battle Mountain erased a double-digit deficit against Mineral County, only to fall 57-55 in overtime. The Serpents raced out to a 16-4 lead in the first quarter and extended the margin to 30-14 at halftime.
After scoring just 14 points in the first half, the Longhorns surpassed that total with 16 points in the third quarter to cut the gap to 36-30. The Battle Mountain rally continued into the fourth quarter, as the Longhorns sent the game to overtime on the strength of a 16-10 run to end regulation at 46-46. Mineral County came back to claim the victory, the second in two weeks over Battle Mountain.
DJ Martinez and Castellanos led the Longhorns with 27 and 17 points, respectively. Bullock added seven points and Behrman four. Bullock had a team-high 12 rebounds and three steals, Lake had eight rebounds and Castellanos and Behrman each had six rebounds.
In the tournament finale on Saturday, Battle Mountain cruised to a 58-32 win over Coleville, Calif.
The Longhorns started off quickly with a 19-8 run in the first quarter and increased the margin to 35-17 at halftime. Battle Mountain closed out the contest with a 10-2 run in the fourth quarter.
Castellanos (30) and Behrman (20) combined for 50 of Battle Mountain’s 58 points. Bullock netted four points and Jay Narramore and Harley Kelley added two each.
Battle Mountain (5-4) makes its home debut Friday against Incline at 6:30 p.m. The Longhorns host North Tahoe on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
