The Pershing County boys basketball team has a score to settle with Battle Mountain. The Mustangs were within centimeters of beating the Longhorns this past Friday at PCHS. However, at the final buzzer Pershing County fell short by two points at 52-50.
“It was our best performance as a team,” said Coach Jesse Canchola, comparing the Battle Mountain game with the rest of the week’s games. “We’ve been struggling with the team concept like most teams fighting adversity. Against the Longhorns, we came together and produced some quality basketball.”
Charlie Safford, helping with coaching, pronounced the Battle Mountain game a “barn-burner.”
The Mustangs will get a chance to set things right on Tuesday, Feb. 1, at 7 p.m. The showdown will take place in Battle Mountain, Longhorn country.
Earlier in the week, on Tuesday, Jan. 11, Pershing County hosted Oasis Academy for a non-league match-up. The Mustangs lost (62-43) to the Bighorns.
“We knew as a staff that No. 0 (Trevor Halloran) was averaging 20 points a game and was number five in the state. We had to shut him down to have a chance. We did a good job the first half but ultimately he came alive on shooting and put up 28 points for the night,” said Canchola.
“Boxing out is still a weakness and we’ll continue to work on it,” he added. “This game we let it get away from us.”
Lovelock ended the week with a loss to West Wendover 53-24.
West Wendover is one of top teams in the 2A, ranked below only Yerington and Incline.
“We knew it was going to be a battle. We fought hard but our inexperience snuck up on us. The kids kept trying but West Wendover deserved the win,” said Canchola.
The Mustangs played short against the Wolverines. Some players were out due to colds resulting in longer minutes for the rest of the team.
On Tuesday, Jan. 18, Pershing County hosted Coral Academy of Science - Reno. Results were not available at press time.
The JV boys also had a challenging week. They were the only Pershing Country team to beat Battle Mountain (30-23). Money Mike Reitz led the scoring with 12 points.
“It wasn’t our best performance and that carried over to the we game we played against Wendover,” said JV Coach JJ Meyers. “We got our butts kicked (53-18). The kids played scared and Wendover was a disciplined basketball team and ran us out of the gym. That was our first loss since Dec. 10. We’ll be a lot better the next time we see them.”
Denzel Zaldivar led the Mustangs with seven points. “Money Mike” had five.
Pershing County hosts Incline this Thursday, Jan. 20, at 7:30 p.m. On Friday they go to Tahoe City to face North Tahoe Lakers.
