The McDermitt High School boys basketball team wrapped up its preseason tournament schedule this past weekend with three games at the Red Lion Christmas Tournament at Lassen High School in Susanville, Calif.
McDermitt took on the Lassen JV on Friday, Dec. 20, and suffered a 45-27 loss. McDermitt held a two-point lead at 12-10 after eight minutes of play, but scored just 15 points in the last three quarters combined.
Lassen led 20-19 at halftime and outscored McDermitt 25-8 in the second half to pull away for the win. Lassen came out of the halftime break with an 11-3 run in the third quarter. Lassen closed out the game on a 14-5 spurt in the fourth quarter.
Sophomore Tristan Bitt had a team-high 11 points to go with five rebounds and two steals. Enrique Villalobos had six points, nine rebounds and one assist and Kaden Crutcher added three points, one assist and one steal.
Steele Crossley, Braeden Ramsey and Waylon Nino each had two points and Alex Navarro one. Crossley grabbed six rebounds and had five steals and Nino had six rebounds, three steals and one assist.
In its first game on Saturday, Dec. 21, McDermitt picked up a 56-53 win over the Lower Lake JV (Calif.).
McDermitt trailed for much of the first half, with Lower Lake grabbing a 31-25 lead at halftime.
The Bulldogs found its offensive groove in the third quarter with 19-14 run to cut the deficit to a point. McDermitt completed the comeback in the second half, holding Lower Lake to just eight points in the fourth quarter to record the three-point victory.
Bitt continued to be McDermitt’s leading scorer and finished the game with 22 points and four rebounds. Villalobos had eight points and 10 rebounds and Nino added seven points and 14 rebounds.
Crossley finished with six points, three rebounds, two assists and a steal and Ramsey had five points, four rebounds, one assist and one steal.
Navarro and Crutcher netted four and three points, respectively. In addition, Navarro had four assists, four steals and three rebounds and Crutcher had five rebounds and five assists.
McDermitt concluded the tournament with a 58-50 loss to the Mt. Shasta JV (Calif.). McDermitt held a slim two-point advantage at 14-12 after eight minutes of play, but the difference in the contest was the second quarter.
Mt. Shasta used a 19-7 run in the second quarter to build a 10-point lead, which it never relinquished.
Bitt and Crutcher paced the Bulldogs with 16 and 11 points, respectively. Villalobos added eight points and 11 rebounds, Ramsey had seven points and Navarro and Crossley each had four points.
McDermitt (2-8) is off until Friday, Jan. 3, when it travels to Wells to open Eastern 1A play at 7:30 p.m. The Bulldogs play Lind in a non-conference game on Saturday, Jan. 4.
