And they’re off!

2023-24 Pershing County Boys Roster

(1) Izayuh McGlothin

(2) Trenton Rhodes

(3) Aaron Kienbaum

(10) Conner Fecht

(12) Michael Reitz

(20) Luis Sanchez

(22) Ayden Montes

(24) Taylor Montes

(30) Efrain Aceves

(32) Travis Donaldson 

(50) Marshall Happy 

The Pershing County High School boys basketball started preseason with mixed results. 

They lost to Smith Valley (70-40), Mineral County (71-69) and Sparks (48-47) but defeated Beatty (49-31).

On the positive side, the Mustangs fulfilled the purpose of preseason - to begin working as a cohesive basketball team.

On Dec. 4, they traveled to Dayton. Results were not available at press time.

 Next up, they host Galena (Dec. 7), Lowry (Dec. 9), and Sierra Lutheran (Dec. 12). Friday, Dec. 15, Pershing travels to Incline.

Most of the team transitions to basketball from football, following a successful season as league champions and runners-up at State. 

They earned multiple regional and State awards. 2A Boys Basketball Coach of the Year Jesse Canchola hopes they apply themselves on the court as well as they did on the field.

Aaron Kienbaum, Conner Fecht and Marshall Happy will lead the team as seniors. Izayuh McGlothin, Michael Reitz, Luis Sanchez, Efrain Aceves and Travis Donaldson are juniors. The sophomores are Trenton Rhodes, Ayden Montes and Taylor Montes.

Last year the Mustangs finished 11-15, overall, and 6 - 8 in the 2A Northern League. 

They also achieved the goal of progressing to the NIAA playoffs. The team traveled to Incline High School and lost to rival school, Battle Mountain (63-43).

Despite the loss, Canchola expressed optimism about his team’s future in words that also apply to the upcoming season.

“This year was a step forward from last year,” he said. “We had our ups and downs but we’re building for the long haul. We knew this was going to be a process as we build our program back. I believe we are close. We are starting to see kids in the community picking up basketballs again.”