RENO - When you have a starting lineup littered with underclassmen, you are going to have some up and down moments throughout the course of the season.
Galena coach Tom Maurer and his young squad, which includes a freshman and two sophomore starters, suffered through one of those down times Wednesday night, dropping a 54-37 decision to host Bishop Manogue in a High Desert League game.
The loss dropped Galena into a second-place tie with Manogue at 3-1 in the conference. Both teams trail Reed by one game. Galena visits the league leaders Friday night.
"I think we played uncharacteristically to our youngest in that game," Maurer said. "No one offensively had any kind of game tonight. I don't think we moved well. I don't think we ran motion long enough to break them down. We had a lot of struggles offensively."
Indeed. Galena shot just 29.4 from the floor, including a 3-for-10 effort by Derek Lorenzen, who appeared to get more and more frustrated as the game moved along. Conversely, Manogue shot 48 percent thanks to Travis Creed, who was 7 for 13 unofficially en route to a game-high 17 points, including four three-pointers.
Despite the Grizzlies' struggles, they only trailed 28-25 at the half. Luke Babbitt (10 points) hit a deuce and Lorenzen a three-pointer in the final 76 seconds.
The late surge should have given the Grizzlies some confidence entering the second half. It was just the opposite in fact. Galena continued its poor shooting, and Manogue couldn't seem to miss.
The result was a 12-2 run in the first four-plus minutes of the second half, enabling the Miners to build a 40-27 lead.
Creed started with a wide-open three pointer from the top of the key. After Galena's Eric Maupin hit a tough lean-in shot to cut the lead to 31-27, the Miners scored nine unanswered points. Andrew Lujan hit a pull-up jump shot at the 6:38 mark followed by Kenny Viser's bank shot 27 seconds later. Franklin Igbekoyi, who had missed the last two games for health reasons, scored from the inside. Following a Galena turnover, Creed completed the surge with another three.
"We were lucky to only be down by three at the half," said Maurer, whose team was 10 for 28 from the floor in the first half. "Right off the bat they hit six straight and put us on our heels. We just couldn't come out of it. We hit the panic stage, which when you have a young team you will go through.
"They did a good job of getting the ball to the right people in the right spots. We have to trust other players to contain their guys. At times we'd have a guy bottled up I thought and then somebody would go over to help."
When Galena did that, the Miners would get the ball to somebody with an open look. Much of the time it would be Creed. Igbekoyi also got some great looks inside thanks to Manogue's ability to penetrate.
The only reason Galena stayed within striking distance, if you want to call 12 points (45-33) striking distance, was because Chad Seidenstricker scored three times in the last 2:48 of the third quarter.
The Grizzlies needed a big run, but that wasn't going to happen. They turned the ball over on their first possession, and then failed to convert when Manogue turned the ball over two straight times without getting off a shot.
Lorenzen did cut the lead to 45-36 with 6:30 left, but a tip-in by Viser and a slam dunk and layup by Igbekoyi made it 52-36. Maurer admitting defeat, emptied his bench in the final 90 seconds.
"We had a good second half," Manogue coach Bill Stevens said. "We were very solid in the second half defensively. We tried to keep them away from the basket and play good help-side defense. They have five guys that can all put the ball on the floor.
"We took care of the basketball and played good defense. It's like football mentality. You control the basketball and don't turn it over. That's what we did the second half."
GIRLS
Galena 56, Bishop Manogue 37
Caitlin Anderson scored 21 points and Caitlin Crofts added 12 to lead the Grizzlies to a High Desert League victory at Manogue.
Nine of Anderson's points came in the third quarter when Galena extended its four-point halftime lead (22-18) to nine points, 35-26.
Galena had several easy baskets in transition in both the third and fourth quarter against Bishop Manogue's press.
Taylor Sylvester led Manogue with 17 points and Tara Beck added eight points.
Contact Darrell Moody at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1281.
