Even though the Northern 2A is just in its beginning stages this year, the Battle Mountain High School boys basketball team picked up two big wins this past weekend at home to even its league record at 2-2.
The Longhorns beat rival Pershing County 52-15 on Friday night and Silver Stage 67-63 on Saturday afternoon.
Battle Mountain trailed Silver Stage midway through the fourth quarter but was 10-of-10 from the free throw line in the final eight minutes and outscored the Nighthawks 23-17 to preserve the win.
“We stepped up as a team and finished strong,” said BMHS coach Toby Melver. “We talk a lot about winning the game from the free-throw line — with free throws and layups. We went 10-for-10 in the fourth quarter from the line and hit all seven baskets around the rim.”
Aldo Castellanos (27) and DJ Martinez (25) combined for 52 points. Martinez was hot from the 3-point line in the opening quarter. Martinez, a senior, knocked down three of his five 3-pointers to start the game and gave the Longhorns a 10-5 lead.
A put back by Castellanos and a basket by Martinez gave Battle Mountain an 18-10 advantage, only to see the Nighthawks rally to score the final eight points of the opening period to tie the game at 18.
Silver Stage and Battle Mountain traded buckets in the early going of the second quarter. The Nighthawks led 22-20, when Martinez hit his fourth 3-pointer of the game. Martinez knocked down another basket to put the Longhorns up 25-24, but the Nighthawks finished the first half on a 9-4 run, including a shot at the buzzer to lead 33-29 at halftime.
“We came out strong in the first quarter and had our half court trap working well,” Melver said. We kind of ran out of steam and let them crawl back in at the end. We were kind of back and forth and our effort was good but we just weren’t getting all of the run outs that we like to get.”
Battle Mountain tied the game at 33 early in the third quarter, but Silver Stage used a 9-1 run to take its biggest lead at 42-34.
The Longhorns closed the gap to 42-39 after a basket by Castellanos and Martinez’s last 3-pointer. The Nighthawks stretched the advantage back to 46-39, only to see Battle Mountain close the gap to 46-44 at the end of the third quarter.
After trailing by four points in the fourth quarter, Battle Mountain grabbed a 54-52 lead after layups by Martinez and Castellanos. The lead increased to 60-54 and the Longhorns made free throws down the stretch to hold on for the win.
Alan Martinez added four points for the Longhorns, Brock Bullock two and Austin Behrman one. Bullock and Behrman each had eight rebounds and Kobe Lake had three rebounds.
“Brock, Kobe and Austin did a great job in the second half with rebounding and clogging up the middle on defense,” added the coach. “DJ, Aldo and Alan caused a lot of disruption on defense which led to layups at the other end. This was a great team win for us to get heading into the rest of our league schedule.”
Battle Mountain had little trouble in its win over Pershing County on Friday night.
The Longhorns led 28-7 after the first quarter and the game went into a running clock in the second quarter after a 16-4 run and 44-11 lead at halftime.
Pershing County was scoreless in the third quarter and both teams combined for just 12 points in the second half.
DJ Martinez (13) and Castellanos (12) led Battle Mountain. Jay Narramore netted seven points, Behrman five, Lake four, Bullock three and Junior Vazquez two.
“We got out to a great start and everyone got to play,” Melver said. “Our defensive pressure helped us build a lead and keep it. We got our running game going early and that helped us set up our defense.”
Battle Mountain traveled to Wells on Tuesday for a non-conference game and results were not available at press time.
The Longhorns travel to West Wendover on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and White Pine on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
