VVHS Beats Pirates, Loses to SLAM in Regionals

By LOU MARTIN

The Progress

It was a short week for the boys basketball teams of both local high schools in the NIAA 3A Southern Region playoffs last week.

In the first round, the two archrival teams faced off on Thursday night, Feb. 16. After a dramatic and fierce contest, the Bulldogs finally put the game out of reach to defeat the Pirates, 50-45.
Virgin Valley advanced to the semifinal round against SLAM in Las Vegas. The Bulldogs were taken out of the tournament with a close loss to SLAM 45-42.

In Thursday’s rivalry game, played in Mesquite, Bulldog Malachi Davis got the Dawgs on the board first with a steal and a breakaway layup for two points. Wyatt Leavitt and Elian Pinto shots gave the Bulldogs a 6-0 lead early before Pirate guard Bryson Walker found his touch with a three-ball. Pirate John Lyman tied the game at 6-6 with a three of his own.The score was 20-15 in favor of the Dawgs at the first quarter.

In the second quarter, the Bulldogs shot bricks from outside and in the paint for only two points in the period. Meanwhile Walker led the Pirates to a 14-2 run to make the score 29-22 favoring the Pirates. Walker led all scorers with 15 points.

In the second half, the Dawgs came out with a more definite offensive scheme to break the Pirates smothering defense. Rod Lopez and Davis hit three-balls to cut the Pirates lead to 36-33 after three periods. The Dawgs defense held Walker to zero points in the period.

The Bulldogs pressure defense caused the Pirates to commit turnovers in critical situations to begin the fourth period. Lopez hit two straight for five points including a three to tie the game at 42-42 with a little over two minutes remaining in the game.

Pinto’s quick hands forced a steal which resulted in two free throws. Pinto hit the second for a 43-42 Bulldog lead. The intense pressure caused a double technical on each team with less than 20 seconds remaining with the Dawgs up 48-45.

The Pirates’ attempt to tie the score fell short as Pinto added two more free throws for the Bulldogs to end the scoring, the game and the Pirates’ season.
Walker, only a sophomore, led all scorers in the game with 20 points.
Freshman Pinto led the Dawgs with 16 points but Lopez’s play and shooting (8 points) in the fourth was critical in the win.

The season ended Friday for the Virgin Valley team with a 45-42 loss at SLAM Academy.

The first half of Friday’s game was a defensive standoff. The Bulls led by a football-like score of 6-5.
The Bulldogs scorers in the quarter were Malachi Davis with a three-ball and Matt Hughes with two points in the paint.

The Bulls huge height advantage led to a 21-15 score at half time. Reserve Rod Lopez led the Dawgs with 5 points in the period followed by 3 points from Stratton Waite.
The Bulls maintained their six point advantage through the third period.

Davis and Reece Leavitt had three’s to keep the game close.

The Bulldogs took a run at the Bulls in the fourth period with 16 points but fell short at the end.
Waite, Lopez and Cam Spilker had three’s in the period to lead the Dawgs rally. Lopez finished the game with 12 points followed by Davis with 10 points and Leavitt with 7 points.
The loss dropped the Dawgs to 16-12 for the season.

Somerset-Losee crushed SLAM on Saturday with a score of 65-46 to win the Southern Title. Both teams move on the Nevada 3A State Tournament this weekend.