Pahranagat Valley boys basketball had a good weekend at the Comstock Classic in Virginia City. They went 3-1 at the tournament, recording wins over Virginia City, Coleville and Sierra Lutheran, before losing to defending state champion Mineral County.
In each of the games, except Mineral County, the boys had a strong second half of play.
In the game with Virginia City, they won 52-32. Strong second halves led to wins over Coleville and Sierra Lutheran games by scores of 53-25 and 53-37.
Against Mineral County, the Panthers didn’t do so well in the second half and lost to the Serpents 49-37. It was Mineral County (7-1) who kept up with the scoring in the second half, rather than Pahranagat.
However, coach Michael Strong said, “In other games we are doing well in the second half for the most part.”
In the Virginia City game, Jamison Miller led the way with 12 points, Ira Bowman had 11 and Preston Higbee had 10.
Against Mineral County, said Strong, “We were close with them, 21-18 at halftime, but we had a terrible third quarter, only five points, and they pulled away from us. Just more consistent than we were.”
Miller had 11 points and Higbee had nine.
The Coleville game saw a strong 22-point third quarter. “It started with our defense,” Strong said. “When we pick it up on defense we are able to get out in transition and that is becoming a strength for us. We want to run and get up and down the floor and score that way. And our defense is doing well right now.”
Higbee was the team leader with 12 points, John Hansen added 11 and Miller contributed 10.
Against Sierra Lutheran, Bowman led the Panthers with 14, followed closely by Higbee with 13 and Hansen with 12. “It’s nice when we get double digits from our main players regularly and have the scoring spread out,” said Strong.
The Panthers (6-2) played a non-league game at Lincoln County (4-4) on Thursday this week, then host Owyhee (5-3) on Saturday, their first home game of the season.
Pahranagat beat Owyhee 40-29 at the Well Rural Electric Coop tournament Dec. 7.
