The Battle Mountain High School boys basketball team celebrated Winterfest this past weekend and closed out its home schedule.
The week did not go the way the Longhorns had hoped with two losses but, the squad is still playoff bound next weekend at the regional tournament in Lovelock.
Battle Mountain took on West Wendover on Friday night and suffered a 70-57 loss to the Wolverines. The Longhorns were back home on Saturday afternoon and lost 74-67 to White Pine in overtime.
When West Wendover and Battle Mountain played the first time, the Wolverines got off to a quick start and the Longhorns could not recover. It was a different ball game on Friday night, as both teams raced up and down the floor and traded baskets for much of the first quarter.
Battle Mountain saw Alan Martinez get in quick foul trouble with two whistles called on him in the first three minutes of the contest. Aldo Castellanos tied the game up at 8-8 with a jump shot, only to see West Wendover rel off five quick points.
The Wolverines stretched the lead out to 16-10, when Battle Mountain closed the gap to three points after a bucket by Austin Behrman and an old-fashioned 3-point play by Castellanos.
A bucket by Castellanos and two free throws by DJ Martinez kept Battle Mountain within five points in the second quarter at 26-21, but West Wendover went on a 10-0 run after that and eventually held an 11-point lead, 39-28, at halftime.
“It was a tough game for us,” said BMHS coach Toby Melver. “We had a lot of turnovers and West Wendover took advantage of those and turned a lot of them into points.”
The lead grew to 18 points at 53-35 in the third quarter, when Battle Mountain went on a 7-0 run, aided by baskets by Behrman and Riley Buller and a 3-pointer by DJ Martinez.
Battle Mountain cut the deficit to single digits with 5:48 to play after a 3-point play by Castellanos, but the Longhorns got no closer.
Castellanos had a team-high 21 points to go with four rebounds, while DJ Martinez added 15 points, four rebounds and a steal and Brock Bullock had 10 points and nine rebounds. Behrman and Buller finished with seven and four points, respectively.
“I thought we battled hard but just couldn’t get over that hump of closing the gap closer than nine or 10 points,” Melver said.
Longhorns fall
to Bobcats
In the home finale, Battle Mountain fell behind early and rallied to force overtime, but White Pine pulled away in the four-minute extra period to win 74-67.
“It was a tough loss in the last home game,” Melver said. “It was a battle all game and we had some turnovers at times that didn’t help us. We fought back in the fourth quarter and took a small lead but couldn’t hold it.”
White Pine held a one point lead after eight minutes of play and extended the margin to 28-24 at halftime.
The Bobcats nearly equaled its first half total with 23 points in the third quarter, to extend the lead to eight points at the end of the third quarter.
Battle Mountain turned up the defensive pressure in the fourth quarter and took the lead late in the game, before settling for overtime. The Bobcats went on to outscore the Longhorns 11-4 in overtime.”
“We played some great defense to force overtime but the turnover bug bit us again in overtime and we kind of ran out of gas at the end,” added the coach. “DJ had a great scoring game in his last home game as a senior. We got great contributions from Aldo and Austin as well.”
Battle Mountain closes out the regular season this weekend, starting Friday at Coral Academy in Reno at 7:30 p.m. and Yerington on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
Incline leads the Northern 2A at 14-0, while North Tahoe (10-3) and West Wendover (10-4) are second and third respectively.
Battle Mountain, Yerington and White Pine are tied for fourth at 7-7, as each team has two games left. The top six teams qualify for the regional championships in Lovelock next week. The top teams receive first-round byes.
“We are tied with Yerington and White Pine for fourth place right now,” Melver said. “All of us are going to zone but just don’t know what place yet- this week’s game will determine the placing.”
