Christian Higbee and Cody Williams double-team Indian Springs player Joe Delucco in their game in Alamo. The Panther boys won their first league game beating Indian Springs 66-15. PVHS hosts Tonopah this Friday. (Dave Maxwell)
The Pahranagat Valley High boys basketball team had both a non-league game and league game last week and came away with a 1-1 record.
In the non-league game at Ely against White Pine last Thursday, the Bobcats came out of the halftime break and showed the scrappy nature of their team this season. Within a minute, they pushed their halftime lead from six points to 12 and the visiting Panthers could never catch up thereafter, losing 64-45.
PVHS had kept the game close in the first half, fighting back from a large deficit to even take the lead briefly before trailing 26-20 at the half. It was right after halftime where all the damage was done.
The loss broke a long string of consecutive Pahranagat wins over White Pine, going back to at least 2004.
In the second half, the Bobcats often used their larger back line of Nick Johnson and Ty Pickel to stay ahead, but at times they had trouble making the one-foot shot.
Johnson finished with a game high 16 points, Pickel 12 and guard Jesse Peterson had 13 points.
Cody Williams led Pahranagat in scoring with 11 points.
Saturday night it was back home to Alamo for a league game with the Indian Springs Thunderbirds. The Panthers came out with a different starting lineup than they have used all season, and went bird hunting from the opening tip, racing off to a 24-4 first quarter lead, then cruised to a 66-15 win over the younger Thunderbirds.
Pahranagat coach Mike Strong said he thought a lot of the difference was less because of the new lineup, but more of being able to finally play at home, and “able to be a little bit more comfortable, and we pushed the ball pretty well.” He also credited the bench players who did well in relief roles.
Of the team’s floor game, he said, “Those were the same shots we’ve been taking in other games, they just haven’t gone down for us, today they did.”
As much as the Alamo boys have struggled this season, Strong said the work ethic and desire to work hard has remained high, and improvement is showing.
Winless Indian Springs (0-6, 0-3), which did not field a boys team last year, is also a young team and could only put six men on the floor in the game with the Panthers, having left two players behind for violating team rules, and have only one senior, and six freshman, three of whom were starters against Alamo.
Paden Higbee led the Panthers in double figures, getting 16 points, Tabor Maxwell had 15 points and Wade Leavitt 13 points. In all, eight of the 11 varsity players scored for Alamo.
The boys (3-15, 1-1) have two games this week, a league game with Tonopah (4-11, 2-0) on Friday, and a non-league game at Beaver Dam, Ariz. The Diamondbacks are expected to join the NIAA Division IV Southern League in the fall of 2014 and have been playing most of the league schools this season.
