By DAVE BELCHER
Moapa Valley Progress
The Moapa Valley High School Boys Basketball team started the season with five games last week.
The first was a home game on Tuesday, November 27. Their opponent was SLAM Academy, which plays an indepent schedule meaning they do not have a league in which they play.
SLAM started with a 15-9 first quarter advantage. They got the hot hand in the second quarter as they outscored the Pirates 26-13 for a 41-22 lead by half time. That first half was the difference in the game.
The Pirates began to score in the third quarter, matching the Bulls with 17-points apiece. Moapa would outscore SLAM 15-11 in the fourth quarter. But that still left the Bulls a 69-54 win.
SLAM was led by Jalen Cunningham who scored 27-points to lead everyone. Jamaal Carr scored 12 while Noa Lee Delpozo also scored 12-points.
The Pirates were lead by Jessup Lake who scored 22-points. Lucas Walker added 12.
On Thursday night, the Pirates started play in the Lake Mead Holiday Classic in Las Vegas. They started the tournament against the host team Lake Mead.
The Pirates won their first game of the season 56-44. It was not easy though. Lake Mead had the hot hand first as they took an early first quarter lead of 19-10. Moapa Valley maintained their same pace adding 10 more. Lake Mead however could not keep pace as they added 8-points for a 27-20 lead by half time.
It was Lake and Walker, who scored 17-points each, that led the Pirates to a 25 point fourth quarter. Meanwhile, the Pirate defense shut down Lake Mead holding them to 6-points and blowing past them for the win.
Marcus Dolinar led Lake Mead with 11-points Colson Madruga added 10-points.
The Pirates played their second game of the day Thursday against Fernley from the northern 3A. The Pirates started on a roll as they out-scored Fernley 19-10 in the first quarter. They held a 33-20 lead by half time. Walker led the Pirates with 17-points.
Fernley made a run in the third quarter as they outscored Moapa Valley 18-11. The Pirates held off Fernley 14-12 in the fourth quarter for a 58-50 win.
On Friday the Pirates turn the tables on SLAM as the two teams met for a second time in four days. SLAM jumped out to a 17-11 lead by the end of the first quarter. Then the Pirates defense held the Bulls to 5-points in the second quarter and ran for 17-points of their own for a 28-22 lead by half time.
SLAM still struggled in the third quarter scoring only 6-points while the Pirates pushed the lead to ten by the end of the third quarter 38-28.
Derek Reese played a strong game as he led the Pirates with 20 points while Walker remained consistent with 16-points of his own.
Jalen Cunningham scored 20-points for SLAM but everyone else was held to single digits.
The win gave the Pirates a trip to the finals for an early matchup with the Boulder City Eagles.
It was in the championship game that the Eagles’ experience stood out. The Pirates held a 15-13 lead after the first quarter. Then it was all Eagles from there.
The shots were not dropping for the Pirates as they could only muster up 5-points in the second quarter to trail by eight points at half time, 28-20.
The Eagles got hot in the second half. A 19-point third quarter then a 23-point fourth quarter push the lead to twenty.
The Pirates scored 18-points in the fourth quarter but just could not gain any ground on the Eagles. The final score was 70-50, and the Eagles won the Lake Mead tournament title.
Walker scored 19 points to lead the Pirates.
The Eagles had four players in double figures led by Derrick Thomas’ 19. Karson Bailey scored 15, Ethan Speaker scored 13 and Matt Morton added 11.
This week the Pirates will travel to Virgin Valley for the Bulldog Invitational. They start with Pahrump Valley on Thursday and will play Friday and Saturday in Mesquite.
