Pyramid Lake drowns Muckers
Dave Price
RENO - By his own admission, Randy Melendez said he was surprised when he looked up at the scoreboard early in the fourth quarter Saturday as his Pyramid Lake High School boys basketball team battled Virginia City in the Northern 1A Regional Tournament championship game.
"I looked up there and saw they only had 24 points and I just said to myself, 'Coach, we're playing great defense," said Melendez, who fills the roles of head coach, athletic director and principal at tiny Pyramid Lake High.
Virginia City (20-8) only scored 10 points in the second and third quarters and the Lakers pulled away to a 55-31 victory in the regional championship showdown before a near capacity crowd at North Valleys High School.
Six-foot-5 junior center Kendrick Miller scored 13 of his game-high 18 points in the second half and guard Lyndsey Rivers added 16 points to help Pyramid Lake win the fourth meeting this season between the Western division co-champions. Pyramid Lake (19-9) won two of three games overall and split two division games with Virginia City during the regular season.
"It's kind of a cat and mouse game with Virginia City because we know each other so well," Melendez said. "We're so close, it's just a matter of which team does a better job of taking care of the little things."
Defense, for one. Rebounding for another, because Pyramid Lake held a 37-18 advantage in rebounds. Miller grabbed 14 rebounds, eight on the offensive end and he converted five of those into putbacks.
"We'd miss a shot and he'd go get it. He's about 6-4 and 280 pounds, so he's wide, and when he goes up, you see bodies bouncing out of there," Melendez said, flashing a smile.
Meanwhile, Virginia City experienced a five-minute scoring drought early in the second quarter and saw an 11-11 score turn into a 21-11 Pyramid Lake lead. Mike Simons scored on a putback, then he took a pass from Kevin Lynch and hit a short jumper as Virginia City cut the gap to 21-15 at halftime.
The Muckers saw their offensive misfortune continue after the intermission as they scored four points in the third quarter - Max Day hit a jumper and two free throws during a span of 31 seconds midway through the period - as Pyramid Lake extended its lead to 40-19.
That deficit was simply too much even for the Muckers, who had come back from a 35-25 deficit at the end of three quarters to stun Eastern 1A champion Wells in the semifinals on Friday.
"It thought it was looking good for us at halftime, but then it got out of control," Virginia City coach Hector Bucchianeri said. "Pyramid Lake just played a heck of a game. Once they got the lead, they put us away, which is what you're supposed to do in these tournament games."
Simons finished with 11 points and Day 10 for the Muckers, who will join Pyramid Lake when the NIAA 1A State Tournament begins Friday at Lawlor Events Center in Reno.
"We feel we're a lot better team than we showed tonight," Bucchianeri said. "We have a week to work some things out."
Northern 1A girls
Pyramid Lake earned a sweep of the regional titles as Arena Tapija scored 29 points to lead the Lakers past Owyhee in the girls championship game. Tapija scored 16 of those points in the first half to help stake the Lakers to a 36-18 lead.
