Dave Maxwell | Stockton Maxwell and two Spring Mountain players go for a rebound. Spring Mountain won the game in overtime to take over first place in the 1A Southern League.
The Panthers drew closer to hitting the .500 mark this year with a 54-40 win at Sandy Valley, Feb. 1. The win brought the boys’ overall record to 10-11 with three games remaining before the league playoffs.
However, the night before, they dropped an overtime home game against rival Spring Mountain, 48-40, that left the Panthers in third place in the 1A Southern League.
At Sandy Valley, Stockton Maxwell scored 20 points to lead the Panthers for the 13th consecutive time. The 40 points the Sidewinders (3-5, 2-2) scored is the highest total against the Panthers since they joined the 1A Southern League in 2008.
Kyler Martin added 10 points for Pahranagat Valley.
Justin Frondarina led Sandy Valley with 17 points, and teammate Ramiro Solano-Sanchez scored 11.
In the Spring Mountain game, Maxwell had 21 points, but no one else had more than five.
Pahranagat was outscored nine to three in the overtime.
Josiah Johnson had 21 points to lead the Golden Eagles (10-9, 4-1), the defending state champions, who took over first place in the league with the win.
Pahranagat was hurt by missing free throws in the fourth quarter, making only 3-of-9. Spring Mountain really won the game in overtime at the foul line, connecting on five of seven attempts.
This week the Panthers have only one home game, a first-time meeting with league newcomer Green Valley Christian (4-13, 1-5), Feb. 8.
On the girls’ side, the Lady Panthers had just one game last week, at Sandy Valley, where they won easily, 43-15, limiting the Sidewinders to no more than five points in any period.
Individual stats were not posted for either team.
The 1A boys league playoffs are scheduled for Feb. 21-23 in Reno. Four teams from the Southern league will play along with four teams from the Central League.
Spring Mountain leads in the South and Mineral County (22-1) and, on a 16- game win streak, is the leader in the Central.
The Central League will host the playoffs Feb. 21-22 at Reed High School.
At the same time, the West hosts the East-West league boys and girls playoffs at Wooster High School and at Hug High School, Feb. 21-22.
The finals for both Central-South and East-West will be at Wooster High School, Feb. 23.
The top two finishers advance to the state tournament Mar. 1-2 at The Orleans in Las Vegas.
The Lady Panthers continue to hold first place in the league (6-0, 8-10) and face second-place Green Valley Christian (9-6, 3-1) in Alamo, Feb. 8. It’s the first-ever meeting between the girls teams as well.
At this writing, Coleville (15-2) is the leader statewide for the 1A girls teams, followed by McDermitt (13-3), Eureka (14-5) and Whittell (12-5).
