1A BOYS: Littlefield, Eagles blitz Smith Valley, face another showdown with Panthers

RENO – Not much went wrong for Lake Mead in its 1A boys basketball state semifinal matchup with Smith Valley.

But whenever it did, the Eagles responded quickly.

Landon Littlefield poured in 32 points to lead the Eagles into their fourth consecutive state championship game with a 79-55 win over Smith Valley on Friday at North Valleys High School.

Littlefield had 15 of his points in the first quarter as the Eagles came out with a simple game plan: run — and run some more.

“Sometimes the pressure of the state tournament gets to you a little bit, but I told the kids to just run and have fun,” Lake Mead coach Jeff Newton said. “I felt we just had a little bit more speed than them, so it was our game plan to run and run.”

Littlefield’s 3-pointer with 2 minutes, 48 seconds left in the first quarter came nine seconds after Tony Castaneda of Smith Valley’s three and started a 10-0 run. His old fashioned three-point play with 22 seconds left in the quarter finished it, putting the Eagles ahead and in control, 23-7.

“They were a lot bigger than us so we knew if it was a slowdown pace they had a better chance,” Littlefield said. “We felt our big guys could beat theirs down the court.”

When they weren’t scoring in transition, the Eagles often scored on their first option in halfcourt sets.

“Our boys have been doing a great job of half-court execution and when we ran what we call our quick hitters, they were executing about 60 to 70 percent, which is phenomenal,” Newton said.

Lake Mead led by as much as 37-12 before Smith Valley put together its best stretch of the game, cutting the margin to 12 at the half with a pair of 3-pointers on a 22-8 Smith Valley run in the final five minutes of the half.

Lake Mead opened the second half on a 13-2 run, building the lead back to 58-35. Smith Valley never got closer than 18 points the rest of the way.

De’Quan Thompson added 15 points for Lake Mead and L.J. Yamazon scored 14.

Trevor Hemsath led Smith Valley with 15 points and Jordan Fletcher had 14.

Pahranagat Valley 62, Mineral County 59 —  Cody Hosier hit two free throws to start the second overtime, and Pahranagat Valley held on for a 62-59 win over Mineral County in a 1A state semifinal game Friday night at North Valleys High School.

Hosier led the Panthers with 26 points, including six 3-pointers. Jeremy Roemer added 13 and Tommy Williams scored 12 for Pahranagat Valley.

Kade Wadsworth added two more free throws and Tyler Higbee hit one, and the Panthers survived a last-second 3-point attempt by Mineral County’s Tremaine Young.

Mineral County rallied from a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter to force overtime, then forced the second extra session on a 3-pointer by Logan Espinosa with four seconds left in the first overtime.

“We lost some guys defensively (at the end of regulation) and they hit some shots, but that’s what good teams do,” Pahranagat Valley coach Brian Higbee said.

Espinosa and Anthony Gattrell each hit 3-pointers and Brandon Jackson had two key baskets as the Serpents rallied from a 43-34 deficit, tying the game at 48 on a pair of free throws by Gattrell, who led all scorers with 30 points.

Williams hit a 12-foot overtime jumper and Roemer added a tip-in, while the Serpents scored their fist six points of the period from the foul line.

 

Brandon Jackson had 14 points for Mineral County.