Pahranagat Valley boys went 2-2 at the Wells Rural Electric tournament last weekend to open the season.

Coach Michael Strong said the first game was a 56-47 win over Eureka. The team scored in double figures each quarter against a bigger team.

“They were a taller, bigger, more physical team than us,” he said, “and  blistered the basket with three-point shots early on and held a 34-26 halftime lead.”

“But in the second half,” Strong said, “we played great defense, made a run on them, and outscored them, 13-7, in the third quarter to trail only 41-39.”

In the fourth quarter, the defense played well  again, as did the offense, outscoring the Vandals, 17-6, for the win.

Stockton Maxwell led the Panthers with 26 points and 12 rebounds.

The second game at Wells was with the Elko JVs, which Strong said was “also a strong team; probably the best team there.”

Pahranagat lost to Elko, 38-37. Preston Higbee scored 13 points and helped lead a second-half rally that fell just short as his potential game-winning layup, with about three seconds remaining, did not go in .

“We did not do well at the foul line,” Strong said, “and missed too many layups as well. We had the looks at the basket; we just didn’t finish.”

The next game was with host Wells and resulted in a 52-39 win for Pahranagat. Higbee had 18 points to lead the team and Maxwell contributed 12.

The final game was against Jackpot. It was only the second time since 2013 the teams have played, and this time Jaguars got the better of the Panthers with a 49-39 win despite 27 points from Maxwell. Only four Panthers scored in the game

This was a tale of two halves. Pahranagat led at halftime, 22-19, but Jackpot outscored the Panthers in the second half, 30-17.

Strong said even with that, it was just a four-point game with about 20 seconds remaining, but fouls against the Panthers allowed Jackpot to pad the winning score.

Dec. 6-8, both the boys and girls teams will participate in the Comstock Classic in Virginia City with games against McDermitt, Battle Mountain, Sierra Lutheran, and Coleville.

Then, on Dec. 13, the Wells Leopards come to Alamo, the first home  varsity and JV games of the season.

Closing out the year, Pahranagat Valley has non-league games with Lincoln County, Moapa Valley, and Lake Mead.