Pershing County's Travis Donaldson takes a shot against Battle Mountain on Friday night in Lovelock.
The Pershing County High School boys basketball had a Northern 2A win and two league losses this past week.
The Mustangs beat Coral Academy of Science in Reno 74-16. This past Friday at home,
Pershing County lost to 54-50 to Battle Mountain. The weekend closed out with a 79-49 loss to West Wendover on Saturday afternoon.
In the road win over Coral Academy, Pershing County fired off 24 points in the first quarter and the Falcons never recovered from the onslaught.
On Friday night, Lovelock hosted Battle Mountain. It was the first home game of the year for the Mustangs.
There weren't many empty seats in the bleachers as both towns turned up to support their teams. The boys fed off the energy and did not disappoint the crowd.
Pershing County's Trenton Rhodes gets past some Battle Mountain defenders.
Pershing County lost to its rival school by four points. It was the closest game of the year so far for both teams.
"Our team fought hard and I'm proud of the effort they put in but we came up short against a tough rival," said coach Jesse Canchola.
High scorers for the Mustangs were Tyrn Sam with 16 points, Travis Donaldson with 11 and Michael Reitz with eight.
"We had some great moments and made a strong push late in the game, but turnovers and missed opportunities hurt us down the stretch."
"Credit to our opponent, they played with intensity and capitalized when it mattered most. The loss stings but it's also a chance for us to learn, regroup and come back stronger. Our team has the resilience to turn this into a positive," Canchola said.
The rivals face each other again next month in Longhorn Country.
West Wendover showed why they're currently undefeated at 6-0 when they made the long trip to Lovelock.
However, the Mustangs stayed focused and tied up the fourth quarter at 18. It was their highest-scoring quarter of the night.
Pershing County played Oasis Academy in Fallon on Dec. 18, and results were not available at press time.
On Friday, Pershing County heads to Sierra Lutheran High School in Carson City to play the Falcons.