By Dave Belcher

Moapa Valley Progress

Southern Boys 3A

Boulder City won the league regular season title with their win in Moapa last week. So when they travelled to Virgin Valley Friday night and lost 64-55, the results didn’t change on who would play Thursday against the Pirates. It will be Virgin Valley in round 3: where the winner will get another shot at The Eagles for a trip to the state tournament.

Virgin Valley’s Tyson Teerlink was the leading scorer with 18 points. Boulder City’s Nate Hafen scored 15 for Boulder a far cry from the 31 he had in the first match up a couple weeks ago.

Next week the regional tournament will be at Durango High School where the Virgin Valley/Moapa Valley game will start at 7:00 PM right after the girl’s game. Virgin Valley comes into the game with a record of 11-14 while Moapa Valley comes in with a 3-20 record.

The winner will return to Durango and play Boulder City at 8:15 PM Saturday night. Maxpreps.com rates the state as Elko, Boulder City, Sparks, Lowry and Virgin Valley.

Moapa is 11th of the fourteen teams and had the toughest schedule of all teams. The southern schedule was rated much tougher than the northern due to the 4A schedule the south plays.

Northern Boys 3A

The playoffs have been determined with some close calls in the final week of the regular season. The exciting game came with the Dayton/Fernley matchup and the winner hosting the playoff game while the loser travels this week to a # 1 seed in another pod.

Fernley controlled the first half as they finished it on a 6-1 run taking a 29-24 lead. In the second half Dayton got things together to tie the game at the end of the 3rd quarter with a 9 point run. For Fernley Cade Knutson scored 28 to lead the Vaqueros as he drove the lane getting to the hoop often. For Dayton it was the power of two who provided the punch. Adam Gomez who had 30 points and Dylan Taylor with 22 points, lead Dayton team in scoring.

Fernley opened the 4th with a 7 point burst by Salsa. That was it, though, as Dayton took over the lead and won the game with a score of 66-61.

Fernley is 12-13 on the season and the 2nd seed. Dayton is 13-11 and won the Lahontan Pod for the top seed.

Fallon was beaten by Silver Stage 55-48 and finished out their season.

Elko Freshman Nathan Klekas scored 22 points in the 66-47 victory over rival Spring Creek to give the Indians the Ruby Mountain crown and the top seed with a home playoff game in next week’s playoffs.

Spring Creek was eliminated from contention meaning Lowry will be the 2nd seed and travel in the play offs.

Elko beat Lowry earlier in the week 50-42. Lowry beat White Pine 67-49 allowing White Pine only 4 points in the first quarter and 13 for the first half.

Sparks won the top seed in the Mount Rose pod two weeks ago and continued their winning ways as they doubled up the score on Whittle with a 64-32 win.

Truckee is the 2nd seed from the Mount Rose Pod. Truckee was beaten last week by 2A Incline, 52-47. Truckee was shut out in the 3rd quarter. Yea, no points! Then both teams caught fire as Truckee poured in 30 while Incline followed with 23 for 53 points combined in the 4th quarter. It wasn’t enough for Truckee. The score at half was 22-17 Incline. Incline scored 7 in the 3rd to increase the lead to 12 after 3 quarters.

South Tahoe is out as they finished with a blowout win over North Tahoe 65-40.

Here the playoff games this week. In the North, the winner of each game will qualify for the state tournament next Week in Reno. Dayton (8-4) will host Lowry (7-3). Elko (9-1) will host Truckee (6-4). Sparks (8-2) will host Fernley (7-5).

My prediction: Lowry, Elko and Sparks.

Southern Girls 3A

The Virgin Valley girls started the night off on Friday by beating the Boulder City Eagles. With the win Virgin Valley will be the top seed. So it will be Boulder City against Moapa Valley in the semi-final.

It was a game where Boulder City took a 15-8 lead after the first quarter and looked to be running away with the game. Then, in the third quarter, a cold chill slowed the Eagles. They were allowed only 5 points in that quarter. The Bulldogs took a 6 point lead into the fourth quarter and finished the Eagles off 55-48.

This gives the Dawgs a bye in the first round of the playoffs tomorrow night. Boulder City was the top rated team in the state. They are the only team in the 3A with 20 wins.

Northern Girls 3A

In the Ruby Mountain it has been a three way battle for the two playoff spots: Spring Creek, Lowry and Elko are the 4th, 3rd and 2nd rated teams in the 3A Boulder City is 1st.

It was Lowry whose season ended last week. They lost to Elko and Spring Creek twice but beat Virgin Valley by 22 earlier in the season. In a game where Spring Creek played at home, they beat Elko for the top seed with a score of 56-37. The Spartans have peaked at the right time and will be the favorite, no matter the ratings, to win the state title.

Lowry finished their season with a loss to Elko last week 53-47. Even with a win they were out as they ended with a 6-4 league record. Lowry was 17-5 on the season.

In the Mount Rose Truckee finished undefeated in the league with a record of 10-0. Truckee blasted Whittle 58-16 last week and will be the top seed hosting a playoff game. South Tahoe will be the 2nd seed and will travel for their playoff game. They beat Incline 46 -38 last week. Sparks is the team who is finished for the season as they had only 1 win.

The Playoff games will be as follows: Fallon 8-2 will host Elko 9-1. Spring Creek 9-1 will host South Tahoe 7-3. Truckee 10-0 will host Fernley 5-5.

The winners will advance to the State tournament in Reno next week.

My prediction; Elko, Spring Creek and Truckee.