The Douglas boys' basketball team headed to Las Vegas this week hoping to see where it stood against some of the Southern 4A's best.
The Tigers came away with the knowledge that they aren't too far away from where they want to be.
Douglas (6-6) went 1-3 at the Amare Stoudemire Invitational at Durango High School, with its three losses coming against three Southern 4A schools. The Tigers finished within 10 points or less of each opponent, though, and coach Corey Thacker said his squad had stacked up well enough to have been able to beat any of the three.
"We played well the whole weekend overall," Thacker said. "We got to see three southern teams, and see where we need to be.
"We saw our defense improve a lot. It was really, really good in spots. We also saw that if we attack the rim, we'll get some shots. It was a good learning experience."
Douglas opened the tournament Saturday against Silverado fresh off a 10-hour bus ride and a last-second win over Elko the previous night in Minden.
The Skyhawks pulled away with a 70-64 win with 31 points from Ruben Jackson. The Tigers led 36-31 at halftime.
Douglas got 17 points from Jeremy Burkhart, 11 from Jorey Scott, eight each from Brett Anderson, Luis Pina-Duarte and Garrett Getty, six from Theo Denson, three from Chris Downs, two from Matt Thomas and one from Austin Neddenriep.
Burkhart hit three 3-pointers while Getty, Anderson, Duarte and Downs each had one, marking the Tigers' best performance from behind the arc of the young season.
"That first night, maybe we didn't step up and play, or maybe the long trip took its toll, but that's no excuse," Thacker said. "It's a game we had the opportunity to win, it just got away from us in the second half."
The Tigers rebounded Monday with a 66-58 win over Ridgewood, Ill. Burkhart again led the charge with 16 points, Scott had 13, Downs had 11 going 9-for-10 at the free-throw line, Getty and Neddenriep each had eight, Denson had three, Pina-Duarte and Nick Maestretti each had two and Thomas had one.
On Tuesday, Douglas fell 64-60 against Centennial, the fourth-ranked team in the state in a number of polls.
The Tigers tied the game with 28 seconds left, but the Bulldogs scored the go-ahead on a backdoor layup with 12 seconds left. After a timeout, the Tigers turned the ball over, giving Centennial's Ben Vozzola a late breakaway dunk for the four-point lead.
"We played really well all game," Thacker said. "They were a real quick team that got after it."
Neddenriep led the Tigers with 17 points, Burkhart and Scott each had 11, Getty had eight, Downs and Thomas each had five and Duarte had three in the loss.
Douglas wrapped up the tournament with a 74-64 loss to Rancho that actually ended a lot better than it started.
The Tigers trailed 18-4 after one quarter and 37-14 at halftime. The Tigers outscored the Rams 50-37 in the second half.
"We just didn't step on the court ready to play," Thacker said. "Second half, we only went with seven guys and we started putting pressure on guys and getting some stops.
"We wanted to find guys who would play, and we went with them."
Burkhart ended up earning all-tournament honors for his play during the week.
"He's coming along really nicely and starting to be a leader for us," Thacker said.
