By Dave Belcher
Moapa Valley Progress
Last week the Moapa Valley High School Boys’ Basketball team played a grueling eight-game-in-nine-days run. Now that it is over the Pirates find themselves at 6-6 overall headed into the Christmas break. They will now have a well deserved rest for a week and a half before starting up again in Cedar City Utah at the Hodson Classic. Here is how things stand for the Pirates.
Hayden Cooper has been a man on a mission. He has averaged 16 points per game so far this season. At times he has been a dominant force in the middle.
During the Eldorado game on December 13, Cooper scored at will during the first half as he ran the pick and roll to perfection. He ended up with 20 points despite the Pirates loss to the Sun Devils.
During that game the Pirates kept up with a quicker and taller team for the first half; a common theme this year in going up against Las Vegas schools. The score after the first quarter was tied at 18 – 18. Then 37 – 33 at the half.
The Sun Devils started getting the easy dunks while the Pirates began to wear out. MVHS Senior Josh Thompson gained steam in the second half when he started driving the lane and hitting three’s. His 17 points helped sustain the Pirates.
The team was working so hard to score while it seemed the Sun Devils were just out for their Sunday afternoon cruise: relaxed and scoring whenever they needed to. It became an 11 point lead for Eldorado after three quarters.
Eldorado beat Boulder City and Virgin Valley earlier in the season. Boulder by sixty at 95-35 then Virgin Valley by 19.
And it was a 19 point victory for the Devils over the Pirates on that Monday night 71 – 52. Eldorado out scored the Pirates 15- 7 in the final quarter.
On Tuesday, December 14 at Moapa, the Enterprise Wolves played the Pirates for the second time in four days. The first was in the Bulldog tournament in Mesquite where Moapa beat the Wolves 65 to 51. This time the Pirates lead by Casen Lewis’s 20 and Coopers 19 pounded the Wolves 82 – 43.
It started quick for the Pirates. A 26 – 13 first quarter lead exploded to a 51- 21 demolition after the first half. Moapa graduate and former head coach for the Wolves Larry Shurtliff was in the crowd to see this match up which has always been a good one over the years.
The Pirates did to the wolves what Eldorado did the night before: just cruised to the victory as everyone on the team scored and saw playing time.
On Wednesday, December 15 Moapa traveled to St. George, Utah and played Pine View. The team came home with a 53 – 33 victory. This was a match up between the Brothers Larsen, the head coaches. The Pirates took a 14 – 7 lead and a 21- 10 half time lead as the pace was much slower then the previous games this week.
The Pirates lost their touch almost completely in the third quarter as they scored a season low (up to that point) for a quarter with 2 points and lead 23 – 21 after the third.
Then the fourth quarter opened up as Moapa pumped in 21 points to Pine View’s 14. Moapa was lead by Cooper’s 13 and Thompson’s 12. Waters had 9.
On Friday, December 17, the bottom fell out from under the Pirates. This happened at Clark High School. Moapa lead 25 – 19 at half. Then they scored seven points for the third, and only one point for the fourth. That’s right 1. A new season low. The final score was 47-33 Clark. Thompson lead the team with eight points while Cooper and Waters each had seven.
The week had started with great basketball and ended with a flop. It should be remembered that there are only four games that count for the Pirates. The league games will consist of two versus Virgin Valley and two versus Boulder city.
Here’s how the south sits right now. Virgin Valley is 5-4. Boulder City is 3-4, while the Pirates are at 6-6.
In the north: Dayton is 7-1. Fallon and Truckee are both 6-1. The defending State Champ, Sparks, is 4-1. Elko is 3-2; South Tahoe is 2-2 while Fernley and Lowry are both 2-6. Spring Creek is in the cellar at 1-3.
The north is playing a 2A-3A schedule while the south is in the 4A for non-league. This could make a big difference come State tournament time.
