By DAVE BELCHER
Moapa Valley Progress
The Moapa Valley High School boy’s basketball team travelled last week to participate in the Vegas Invitational at Mountain View High School. This is the best stretch of basketball the Pirates have played this season. They came away with a 2-2 record, but were close in each game.
The day after Christmas the Pirates played their first game against Buckley, California. The Pirates started slow trailing 11-5 after the first quarter. Buckley built a 30-15 lead by the end of the first half. To sum it up, the Pirates shot just 24 percent, while the Griffins controlled the boards for many second chance points.
Then came the start of the third quarter and the Pirates got rolling. The Pirate press and fast break baskets carried Moapa Valley to a 17-1 run at the beginning of the quarter. The Pirates came all the way back and past Buckley for a 32-31 lead.
Nathaniel Thompson scored 18 points in the game scoring 10 of them in the third quarter run. Moapa Valley would outscore the Griffins 23-11 in the quarter and trailed 42-38 by the end of the quarter after a 11-6 run by Buckley to end the quarter.
Moapa Valley tied the game in the first minute of the fourth at 42-42 then scored 2 points in the final seven minutes as they had used their energy in the third. The Pirates scored 6 points in the fourth as Buckley added 10 to their total for the win, 52-44.
Besides Thompsons 18 points he grabbed eight rebounds. Chase Kruse added 10 points and nine rebounds. Cameron Larsen added 9 points and had three steals. Dalyn Leavitt had four assists and three steals for the Pirates. Shawn Wayans scored 14 points to lead the Griffins.
The next day the Pirates played Spring Mountain and dominated the Golden Eagles for a 56-25 blowout. Moapa Valley built a 22-8 lead by the end of the first and a 44-11 lead by halftime. The Pirates used the players who hadn’t seen much playing time the rest of the game to get the win.
Thompson led the Pirates again with 21 points. He scored 19 of them in the first half. Kruse scored 9 points and Trey Jones scored 8.
With the win the Pirates returned on Wednesday to play Buhach Colony, California. The Pirates opened the first half with an 18-9 first quarter run. The Thunder stole the ball twice and made two easy layups to start the second quarter to cut the lead to 18-13 with thirty seconds used in the quarter. The Thunder would push that to a 10-point run in the first two minutes taking a 19-18 lead with six minutes to play in the half.
Neither team scored for the next three minutes before a free throw extended the Thunder run to 11 points.
Moapa Valley wouldn’t get their first point with a free throw at the 3:17. The game would be tied at 20-20 after a second free throw was made. Moapa Valley would own a 29-25 half time lead.
The Thunder outscored the Pirates in the third quarter 22-16 then held the Pirates off to finished the game with a 67-64 win. The Thunder outscored the Pirates 20-19 in the fourth.
Thompson finished with 23 points to lead the Pirates. Kruse added 17 and Tyler Peterson added 14.
In the final game of the week the Pirates played Pahrump Valley. Both teams found the basket often in the first quarter with the Trojans owning an 18-17 lead by the end of the first. Pahrump Valley extended it to a 3-point lead by halftime 30-27.
The Pirate press provided some easy baskets in the third quarter as Moapa outscored the Trojans 20-11 in the third quarter for a 47-41 lead to start the fourth quarter.
Thompson started the fourth with a three pointer and the Pirates fast break kicked in with four layups to push the lead to 41-30 with 3:30 left to play. Moapa Valley won 62-51.
Thompson scored a game leading 24 points while Jones scored 14. Antonio Fortin scored 23 points for the Trojans.
Moapa Valley is now 6-10 on the season. The team will start league play this week with two road games: the first at Chaparral tonight and the second at Del Sol.
