Coming off a thrilling victory over Yerington the week before, the Battle Mountain High School boys basketball team was on the road in Lake Tahoe last weekend to play Incline and North Tahoe.
Battle Mountain entered the weekend with the injury bug hurting them and took on league-leading Incline on Friday night. The Longhorns hung tough for a quarter, trailing by three points after eight minutes of play, but the Highlanders pulled away for a 72-42 win.
“We played a lot better game this time around,” said BMHS coach Toby Melver. “They led us 17-14 at the end of the first quarter and stretched the lead out to double digits at halftime. We had some injuries we were dealing with so everyone got a lot of playing time.”
Incline caught fire from the field in the second quarter, scoring nearly 30 points in the period to lead 45-24 at the break. The Highlanders outscored the Longhorns 18-9 in the third quarter to extend the advantage to 62-32.
DJ Martinez paced Battle Mountain with 13 points, while Riley Buller added six. Kobe Lake and Jay Narramore had five points apiece, Austin Behrman and Evan Gonzalez four each, Alan Martinez three and Aldo Castellanos two points. Lake had a team-high six rebounds and Brock Bullock added five boards.
“I thought our defense this time around was more effective than the first time,” Melver said. “They (Incline) are a complete team and well deserving of their No. 1 ranking.”
Longhorns fall to Lakers
Battle Mountain made its way around Lake Tahoe on Saturday to take on North Tahoe in Tahoe City, Calif. The Lakers opened a double-digit lead in the third quarter and held on for a 67-64 win to complete the season sweep over the Longhorns.
“It was a hard-fought tough game,” Melver said. “Our kids shook off being tired and came to play. The first half was okay, as we stayed within striking distance. In the beginning of the third quarter they come out blazing from the 3-point line and stretched the lead to double digits. Our kids hung in and really started to work hard on both ends of the floor and brought it back to within six points at the end of the third quarter.”
North Tahoe led 14-9 after the first quarter and kept the same five-point lead at halftime, as each team scored 15 points in the second quarter.
After falling behind double-digits in the third quarter, the Longhorns rallied to trail 48-42 going into the fourth quarter.
In the final eight minutes of play, Battle Mountain grabbed the momentum and took its first lead with three minutes to play.
The advantage grew to five points with two minutes to go, but the Longhorns could not hold the lead. North Tahoe knocked down a couple 3-pointers to go back in front and preserve the victory.
“North Tahoe is a good team, but I thought our boys really matched up well and had a game right there for the taking,” Melver said. “As we get more experience in games like this I think we will learn how to close those types of games out to our advantage.”
Battle Mountain had three players in double figures, lead by DJ Martinez with 22 points. Castellanos and Bullock each finished with 13 points and Behrman had seven. Buller netted five points. Alan Martinez three and Lake one. Bullock added a team-high seven rebounds and Bullock had seven rebounds.
Battle Mountain is fifth in the Northern 2A at 5-5 and 11-9 overall. Incline leads the league at 10-0 and are followed by West Wendover (8-2), North Tahoe (7-2) and White Pine (5-4). Yerington is sixth at 4-7. The top six teams qualify for the Northern 2A Regional Championships in Lovelock on Feb. 20-22.
Battle Mountain hosted Wells on Tuesday night and results were not available at press time. The Longhorns travel to Pershing County on Friday for a 7:30 p.m. tip and Silver Stage on Saturday for a 3:30 p.m. start.
