Battle Mountain’s Abraham Nevarez goes up for a shot during Friday’s 54-50 win over Pershing County in Lovelock.
Perhaps tougher than thought to be, the Battle Mountain High School boys basketball team opened Northern 2A action with road wins at Pershing County and Coral Academy Science.
The Longhorns shot just 22% from the 3-point line on Friday against the Mustangs, as Pershing County stayed within striking distance the entire night. Battle Mountain eventually held on for a 54-50 victory.
There was no drama on a rainy Saturday afternoon in Reno, as the Longhorns cruised to a 65-17 win over Coral Academy to improve to 6-1 overall and 2-0 in league play.
Battle Mountain’s Brodie Smith drives to the basket.
BMHS 54,
Pershing County 50
Battle Mountain jumped out to an 19-11 advantage in the first eight minutes of play and led 25-19 with 5:17 left in the first half, when Pershing County finished the second quarter on a 10-0 run to go in front 29-25 at the break, holding Battle Mountain scoreless in the last five minutes.
The Longhorns regrouped with a 14-6 run in the fourth quarter and led by as many as seven points, eventually holding on for the four-point victory.
Senior Zayne Hall finished with a double-double, 11 points and 10 rebounds to go with a steal and sophomore Geovanni Ruvalcaba and freshman Abraham Nevarez each scored 11 points. Ruvalcaba dished out seven assists to go with five assists and two steals and Nevarez had four steals and a block.
Sophomore Adan Nevarez finished with nine points, 17 rebounds and four assists and Angel Guadarrama added six points and three rebounds.
Brodie Smith, Lewis Strong and Chase Lutz each scored two points
BMHS 65,
Coral Academy 17
On Saturday, Battle Mountain dominated from the start and had three players score in double figures.
Smith and Ruvalcaba each netted 13 points, with Smith adding three rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block. Ruvalcaba had three assists, two steals and two rebounds, Adan Nevarez finished with eight points, six rebounds, five assists and a steal and Lutz, Abraham Nevarez, Guadarrama and Andrew Garcia had six points apiece.
Hall and Eli Colver added four and three points, respectfully.
Battle Mountain was busy with three games this week before Christmas break.
The Longhorns traveled to Winnemucca on Tuesday to play Lowry and results were not available at press time.
Battle Mountain will get its Lake Tahoe trip out of the way, playing Friday at North Tahoe at 7:30 p.m. and Incline on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
This will be the last trip to Incline, as the Highlanders’ boys basketball team is moving to the Northern 3A next year.