3A BOYS: Virgin Valley tops Moapa Valley for Southern League boys title

The arch-rival had just trimmed an 11-point deficit to two and was threatening to take away the one thing his team worked all season long to achieve.

And Cameron Jensen decided it was go time.

The Virgin Valley junior scored 12 of his 31 points in the final 5 minutes, 46 seconds Saturday to lift the Bulldogs to a 70-61 win over

Moapa Valley in the Class 3A Southern League boys basketball title game at Desert Oasis. Virgin Valley (19-6) earned the Southern League’s lone spot in next weekend’s Class 3A state semifinals.

“I was feeling that I needed to get it going, make sure our team was staying up,” said Jensen, who scored eight points in a span of 2:57 to bump Virgin Valley’s 48-46 lead to 56-51 with 2:49 to play.

Virgin Valley held a 44-33 lead with 2:20 to play in the third quarter, but the Pirates (12-13) rallied to within 48-46 on James Frehner’s second-chance basket with 5:54 left.

Eight seconds after that basket, Jensen countered with a three-point play.

The Bulldogs used an ultra-quick transition game to counterpunch after several Moapa Valley baskets. Jensen did much of the work.

“We’ve been working on that really hard the last couple of weeks,” Virgin Valley coach Rich Bohne said. “It’s the way we get the momentum back, get our composure and regain our confidence.”

But Jensen’s biggest shot was a deep 3-pointer with 2:49 to go.

“That was a dagger,” Bohne said. “That was the turning point in the game.”

Moapa Valley closed to within 58-54 on a basket by Hayden Cooper with 1:16 to go but got not closer.

Virgin Valley made 12 of 14 free throws in the final 1:11 to sew up the win.

“This was our number one goal right from the start of the year,” Bohne said.

Austin Cloes added 15 points, Jason Wittwer 12 and Zach Horlacher 10 for Virgin Valley.

Cooper led Moapa Valley with 14 points. Frehner and Matt Vallet each had 12 points, and Casen Lewis scored 11 for the Pirates.