By DAVE BELCHER
Moapa Valley Progress
Boys Northern 3A Regionals
Is this the year the Elko Indians win their state basketball championship? Is this the year they knockout the Desert Pines Jaguars? How about make it out of the semifinals of the state tournament? This year may be the best opportunity for all three of those things to happen.
In the northern league of the 3A, Elko has lost just two games all season. One in non-league play to Preston Idaho, 60-47 near the beginning of the season. The other, a league game to the current third seed who beat the second seed South Tahoe last Friday in the Northern semi’s Fernley.
In the Elko/Fernley game at Fernley on January 7, with a final score of 42-39. A wake-up call? Maybe, since that time Elko hasn’t lost another game all season.
One of their early wins was against Cheyenne 46-26 who by the way hasn’t lost a game since that January 14 match-up. Included is two wins over Desert Pines who was the favorite at the first of the season.
Fernley on the other is no slouch itself. The team is a twenty-win team this year with a 20-7 record overall and 12-4 in league play. One of the overall wins came against Moapa Valley in the third game of the season in the Lake Mead Holiday classic back on December 3 by a score of 65-59.
Their league losses came against Fallon 60-56, South Tahoe 72-53 the first time, 64-61 the second. Then one loss to Elko in the second game 68-59 in Elko.
Fernley is the only team to beat Elko in northern league play.
Last Saturday in the league championship game, Fernley and Elko tipped off in Winnemucca with the winner to play the second seed from the south this Friday night in Cox Pavilion on the UNLV campus.
Last week Fernley started the Northern tournament with a win over Dayton 65-44. Fernley started the game with a 19-9 run in the first quarter and followed that up with a 16-9 run in the second quarter for a 35-18 halftime lead. Fernley just cruised to the win in the second half.
In the Semi-final game with South Tahoe on Friday, the second seeded Vikings lost to the third seeded Fernley Vaqueros 69-53 ending the Vikings season.
Fernley advanced to the state tournament with the win and moved to the regional final against Elko on Saturday – a game they would lose, 59-41 giving the Indians the top seed and a first round match-up with Cheyenne on Friday in the state tournament. Fernley will have their hands full in the first-round game with Desert Pines also on Friday.
Boys Southern 3A Regionals
Desert Pines was the favorite headed into the season to win the state title. During their season, they had many question marks as they struggled to get wins that should have been in the bag.
Two of those losses came against Cheyenne who beat DP both times in league play this year. With those two losses the Jaguars were the second seed in the Sunset regional tournament.
On the Sunrise side of the region, Chaparral ran away with the first seed headed into the tournament. Chaparral started the regional tournament by playing host school Sunrise Mountain.
The Cowboys found the hoop early and often as they started the game with a 14-8 run in the first, and expanded their lead with an 18-7 run in the second for a 32-15 halftime lead. They coasted to a 58-40 win.
But Chaparral would fall short of qualifying for the state tournament when Desert Pines beat the Cowboys in the regional semi-finals. In that game, the Cowboys put a scare into the Jaguars by jumping all over Desert Pines in the first quarter and holding a nine point 22-13 lead by the quarter’s end.
Then DP woke up and began their championship run. The Jaguars outscored the Cowboys 21-10 in the second quarter then 23-11 in the third, building a big 57-43 lead to start the fourth quarter. The Jaguars advanced with a 72-59 win and a rematch with Cheyenne.
Virgin Valley, the second seed from the Sunrise, beat the Western Warriors 57-53 in their first-round game. After a 13-13 first quarter the Dawgs built a lead in the second quarter with a 16-8 run then held on in the fourth quarter as the Warrior outscored the Bulldogs 19-15 falling just short giving the Bulldogs the win. Hogan Fowles scored a team leading 24 points in the game connecting on 16-20 free throws. Andrew Memmott scored 17 points connecting on three 3-pointers.
Virgin Valley then played Cheyenne with the loss ending their season in the regional quarterfinals.
The Bulldogs didn’t stand a chance against the Desert Storm. Cheyenne built a big 19-9 lead in the first quarter and held a 34-17 lead at halftime. Cheyenne didn’t let up. They out-scored the Dawgs 20-12 in the third quarter then 20-17 in the fourth for a 74-46 win.
In the championship game between the Jaguars and Desert Storm, DP beat Cheyenne easily. The Jaguars started the game holding Cheyenne to 3 points in the first quarter and owning a 14-3 lead to start the second quarter. They didn’t let up much with a 30-14 lead at half time. A 20-13 run in the third and a 13-8 finish gave the Jaguars a 63-35 win. That gave them the top seed from the south and a date with Fernley this Friday.
Cheyenne will try and challenge the Elko Indians on Friday in a rematch from earlier this season.
Girls Northern 3A Regionals
Fallon has played this season with a vengeance. Other than a 44-40 win at Lowry earlier in the year and a nine-point win over Elko, no one in region play has come within ten points of Fallon. Their last loss was on December 30.
Lowry, the second seed from the north, has lost just four games all season with a 23-4 record. Three of the losses have come to the hands of Fallon, including last Saturday’s loss in the regional championship game.
All four team in this year’s state tournament have twenty plus wins and obviously, the best in the 3A.
Last week, Fallon and Lowry received a first round bye. Six teams qualify in the northern regional tournament giving the top two seeds a bye until the semi-finals.
Lowry beat Elko in the first semi-final game 55-40.
In the other semi-final, Spring Creek got pounded by Fallon 61-30.
Fallon unloaded all weapons on Lowry including a defense that would only allow 15 points total by Lowry in the game. It was a 51-15 final sending both teams into the state tournament in Las Vegas at UNLV.
Lowry will play Moapa Valley while Fallon will play Virgin Valley in the state semi-finals on Friday.
Girls Southern 3A Regionals
The southern regionals started last week with the higher seeds hosting the lower seeds.
Virgin Valley started with Western. The Dawgs used a 18-5 first quarter to build a lead they would keep all night. The Dawgs lead 33-16 at half time and won the game 51-26.
Emma Barnum scored 15 while Brianna Todd scored 13 to lead the Bulldogs.
In their semi-final game against Desert Pines who had beaten Boulder City 31-25 in the first round, Virgin Valley beat Desert Pines 51-46 in a close game throughout. The Bulldogs started slow holding the Jaguars to six points but held a slim 8-6 lead by the end of the first quarter. It was 19-14 by halftime and 31-27 after the third quarter.
Virgin Valley held on for the win. Virgin Valley is 22-4.
Moapa Valley is 26-5.
