Pirate Boys End Season With Losses

By DAVE BELCHER

Moapa Valley Progress

It was the final week of the basketball season for the Moapa Valley High School Varsity Boy’s team. They finished the season with a disappointing 1-9 league record and an 8-19 regular season record.
The boys finished their season last week on the road playing in Henderson at SECTA where they were beaten by the Roadrunners 57-42.

Both teams had slow starts as the Pirates struggled from the floor with 4 points in the first quarter. SECTA almost double the Pirates with just 7 points of their own.
Then it was off to the races in the second quarter as the Roadrunners blew the game open with a 24-12 run to give SECTA a 31-16 halftime advantage and send the Pirates reeling.

This was a game where the officials helped decide the outcome. They sent SECTA to the foul line no less than 32 times while the Pirates shot only 7 times from the free throw line and made 3 of them. SECTA, on the other hand, made 18 of their 32 shots a 15 point difference on the line.

The Pirates returned to the floor and showed some life in the third quarter. They started making baskets with a 16-9 run cutting the Roadrunner lead almost in half; starting the fourth quarter trailing just 40-32.
Chase Kruse would lead the Pirates in scoring with 12 points while Nathaniel Thompson added 10.

But Moapa Valley struggled again in the fourth quarter, scoring 10 points while SECTA ran away with 17 points for the final score.
Moapa Valley shot 37 percent from the field making just one of 16 three-point attempts. Trey Jones with the only make. Kruse was 6-10 from the field.

Jurelle Orbino scored 16 points for the Roadrunners with Tyler Muwwakki scoring 10 as well as Justin Mixson.
The Pirates were called for 24 personal fouls during the game while SECTA was called for just nine.
In their final game of the season at Boulder City, the Pirates came out on fire and outscored the Eagles 20-12 in the first quarter and 15-13 in the second quarter for a 10 point 35-25 lead at halftime.

It was different in the second half. Moapa Valley put a total of twenty points on the board as the Eagles outscored the Pirates 15-8 in the third quarter then 21-12 in the fourth for the final score of 61-55 ending the season for both teams.
Boulder City’s Karson Bailey made two three pointers for the Eagles in the final 90 seconds of the game to help secure the win for Boulder City. Bailey would finish the game with 24 points total six of them from the three-point line while Carson Balistere added 10.

Boulder City shot 10-21 from the free throw line while Moapa Valley was 8-12.
The Pirates were led by Trey Jones and his 21 points while Thompson would finish with 13.
The Eagles ended in a fourth place tie with SECTA but lost out in the tiebreaker.

On the season, the Pirates shot 41 percent from the field 23 percent from the three-point line. Thompson scored 14 points a game shooting 45 percent from the three-point line and 57 percent from the free throw line. As a team, the Pirates averaged 50 points a ball game and averaged 51 percent from the free throw line.