Douglas boys clinch second

The Douglas High boys basketball team have second place in the Sierra League all to itself.

Douglas clinched the Sierra League's No. 2 seed into the Northern 4A playoffs with an impressive 59-52 win at Hug on Tuesday. With the No. 2 seed, the Tigers have earned a first round home playoff game. The Tigers will tune up for the playoffs at home today against South Tahoe and then will end the regular season on Friday at Sierra League-leading Reno High.

"Obviously we're trying to get that playoff mode," Douglas coach Corey Thacker said. "We're going to work on some things that are going to help us in the long run the next two games.

Douglas trailed 12-10 after one quarter, but outscored Hug 20-14 in the second quarter and 17-13 in the third quarter to take a 47-39 lead and maintained its lead throughout the fourth quarter.

The Tigers had an impressive showing on defense on the road, holding a high-powered Hug offense to 52 points.

"That's one of our goals to hold teams under 50," Thacker said. "Our kids did a great job of holding them at that spot."

Another difference in the game was the Tigers' advantage at the foul line. Douglas was an excellent 17-of-21 from the line while Hug was 9-of-16. Douglas began to turn the game around in the second quarter by going 8-for-8 from the line. "I thought that was a big factor in the game," Thacker said.

James McLaughlin scored 16 points, Jeff Nady and David Laird each had 13 points and Kevin Emm added 12 points for Douglas.