3A BOYS: Boulder City puts ‘average’ season behind it, claims state title

Boulder City’s boys basketball team’s regular season barely qualified as average.

The Eagles’ performance Saturday night was anything but.

Boulder City, which went 13-16 in the regular season, scored the first 10 points Saturday and never gave up the lead en route to a 62-46 win over rival Moapa Valley in the Class 3A championship game at the Orleans Arena.

The Eagles (16-17) won their first state boys basketball title since 1999.

“The kids believed in themselves all year long,” Boulder City coach Bobby Reese said. “We were a No. 4 seed, but we were losing some tough games. The kids kept their heads up, kept battling. Today is a testament to that.”

Shane Levin had  14 points and 10 rebounds, and Jeremy Smith had 10 points and 14 rebounds as the Eagles used a balanced attack to fend off a second-quarter Moapa Valley (16-8) rally and pull away in the second half.

Boulder City scored the game’s first 10 points, six coming off of Moapa Valley turnovers.

Shaun Hilton’s three-point play with 3 minutes and 20 seconds left in the first quarter finally got the Pirates on the board.

The Eagles, though, still threatened to run away, using a 9-0 run to take a 24-11 lead on Preston Swasey’s drive with 3:39 to go in the half.

Brad Weiss sank six straight free throws to start an 11-0 run that allowed Moapa Valley to close within 24-22 at the half.

But an 11-2 run midway through the third quarter sent the Eagles on their way.

“They made a run at us and we just continued to play defense,” Reese said. “We played phenomenal defense.”

Smith started the run with a baseline drive that gave Boulder City a 28-24 lead, and Joey Felsenfeld scored five of his nine points during the stretch, helping Boulder City open up a 37-26 lead.

The Pirates pulled to within 49-41 on Weiss’ 3-pointer from the right corner with 3:15 to play, but baskets by Levin and Felsenfeld just three seconds apart reestablished a double-digit lead.

“Their kids worked hard,” Moapa Valley coach Dallas Larsen said. “They came out and made some adjustments. They played a great game.”

Swasey added 11 points for the Eagles, who split with Moapa Valley during the regular season and lost to the Pirates, 63-55 in last week’s Class 3A Southern League title game.

“I’ve never had a group of kids that has worked as hard as these kids,” Reese said.

Weiss led the Pirates with 17 points, including an 8-for-8 effort at the free-throw line. Max Jenkins added 13 points for the Pirates, who made just 15 of 41 field-goal attempts.

“We just didn’t hit shots,” Larsen said. “We missed easy shots, and they hit their shots.”