Go Cougars!
| Reno boys steal win from Spanish Springs |
 |
 |
 |
| Written by Sparks Tribune |
| Wednesday, 28 January 2009 17:34 |
|
Jan 28, 2009 “It was a great basketball game,” Spanish Springs coach Kyle Penney. “We had our chances. We had some lapses defensively.” The Cougars stepped up their defense early in the second quarter, holding Reno to just four points in four minutes while capitalizing on offense. Spanish Springs took a 26-15 lead with 4:02 left before halftime. The Huskies (12-12, 7-1 High Desert League) rallied and took advantage of a few Cougar turnovers to score 10 unanswered points to close out the second period. Reno's Zach Sanford hit the second of two free throws to start the scoring spree. “We panicked,” Penney said. “We threw the ball around and we were out of our comfort zone.” The Cougars (15-7, 4-3 HDL) aided the Huskies' comeback with turnovers on consecutive possessions in the final two minutes. The Reno run was capped by a 3-pointer by James Kerivan with two seconds left. The Cougars saw their 11-point lead dissolve to just one, 26-25. “I have a lot of kids who have played a lot of basketball,” Reno coach Kyle Schellin said. “We were able to execute when we needed baskets.” The second half didn't start much better for Spanish Springs than the first had ended as the Huskies wound up posting a 16-0 run bridging the two quarters and grabbing, 33-26 lead. Sanford scored the first 10 points for Reno, six of which came from two treys. “They whooped us,” Penney said. “One of our guys got blood on his jersey and we had to go to the bench. And Sanford took over.” Dan Lide finally put in a layup for Spanish Springs, trying to get his squad back on track. Reno outscored the Cougars 14-8 in the third quarter, for a 39-34 advantage. “They play with a lot of intensity,” Schellin said about the Cougars. “They're a good team. They're well coached.” The first two minutes of the fourth quarter were all about Spanish Springs. The Cougars jumped on the Huskies for a 9-0 run and a 43-39 lead, capped by a putback and layin by Adam Miller. The Cougars led by as many as four, 47-43 but Reno proceeded to go on an 8-0 run take the lead for good, at 51-49. Spanish Springs center Tyler Emrick hit the first of two shots from the stripe to get the Cougars within one. The SSHS cagers were forced to foul for the final minute and half of the game. “In the last two minutes, every possession counts,” Penney said. “We had chances. We just didn't make them.” In the first quarter, Spanish Springs faced an 8-2 deficit with half of the opening period gone but came back to take a 14-11 lead, heading into the second on a pull-up jumper by Lide. Spanish Springs held Reno's best player, all-state guard Austin Morgan, to just 12 points on the night. Zach Sanford took up some slack, scoring 15 points and Scott Challis chipped in 11 for the Huskies. “Teams are going to look to take away Austin,” Schellin said. “Other guys have to get up and hit shots and that's what they did tonight.” Lide lit up Reno, scoring 15 of his 22 in the first half and Emrick added 11. The Cougars are back in action Friday at Hug at 7 p.m |