Prep roundup: O’Keefe, Basa, Miller place at Sierra Nevada Classic

RENO — Led by Brady O’Keefe and Brandon Basa, the Carson High wrestling team finished ninth at the Sierra Nevada Classic at the Reno Livestock and Event Center.

The third-seeded O’Keefe injured his knee inside the final minute of his championship match against Servite’s Ryan Ojeda, the top seed, and had to retire. An injury forced him to miss his seventh-place match at last week’s Reno Tournament of Champions.

Basa shook off a loss to top-seeded Liam Cronin of Servite in the quarterfinals to win four straight matches and finish third.

Sheldon Miller also made the podium, finishing sixth.

Carson was the top Nevada team, finishing with 125.5 points. Servite won with 196 followed by Del Orio 179.5, Folsom 155, Marshfield-Oregon 148, Vista Murrieta-California 145.5, Cleveland-New Mexico 142,5, Oakdale-California 138 and Rancho Bernardo was eighth at 129. The ninth-place finish was the best since 2005 and 2006 when the Senators finished seventh in each of those years.

Efforts to reach coach Justin Shine for comments on his team’s performance were unsuccessful.

O’Keefe beat Tristan Fordan in the quarters, 5-2, and then won by technical fall, 16-0, against Cardinal Newman’s Mason Levinson. In the finals, O’Keefe was on top but behind 3-2 when he injured his knee.

Basa was elated with his overall placing.

“My goal was to place,” Basa said in a telephone interview. “After the first three matches (Tuesday), I felt pretty good. I just kept on going. I’m happy with the way I wrestled.”

Basa’s day did get off to a slow start when he was pounded by Cronin.

“He (Cornin) and Ian (Timmins) are the two best wrestlers I’ve wrestled this year,” Basa said.

Basa pinned Tahoma’s Izzy Murrieta, pinned third-seeded Angelo Martinon of Folsom and pinned Spanish Springs’ Jacob Ruiz of Spanish Springs after jumping out to a big lead in the battle for third place. Basa admitted it was nice to see somebody he knew something about heading into that last match.

“I’d faced him before (at Lowry) and beat him,” Basa said. “I just knew I had to go hard. You never want to be too confident, but I did feel more comfortable.”

Miller lost a tough 1-0 decision to Ukiah’s Nicolas Iversen of Ukiah in the quarterfinals or he could have very easily been competing for a title. After the loss to Iversen, Miller knocked off Payton Day of Capital City, 11-4, and then beat Redmond’s Jacob Brauchler before losing by fall to Del Oro’s Pablo Miller in the consolation semifinals.

He finished the tournament with a 3-2 loss to Osiros Tapia of Nyssa-Oregon.

Kevin Rusler and Connor Sievers were both eliminated in the early going on Wednesday.

Rusler was eliminated in his first match of the day, dropping a 7-1 decision to Brandon Dawson of Lebanon-Oregon.

Sievers, meanwhile, pinned Sheldon Wilkinson of Spring Creek in his opening match to remain alive, but then was pinned in his next match. He finished 5-2 for the event.

BOYS BASETBALL

Bakersfield pounds Douglas

SAN DIEGO — A 13-0 run to start the game put the Bakersfield Drillers on track for a 66-47 victory against the Tigers Wednesday on the final day of the Under Armour Holiday Classic.

Nine different players scored for the Tigers, led by Sam Johnson with 10 points, including a pair of 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.

Xavier Esquivel’s hot hand helped propel Bakersfield to a 41-15 halftime lead. Esquivel led all scorers with 27 points.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Douglas splits in SoCal

SAN DIEGO — Douglas wound up its stay at the SoCal Holiday Classic on an upbeat note by defeating Lincoln (San Diego) 56-46 Wednesday morning.

Douglas (3-9 overall) won two of four games during the 64-team tournament.

Carson girls win thriller

TRACY — The Senators concluded the Tracy Breakfast Lions Tournament with a 2-2 record after edging El Capitan, 50-49.

Ivy Pembrook led Carson with 10 points.

JV BASKETBALL

Carson edged

RENO — Reed hit a 3-pointer in the final seconds to break a 39-39 tie on its way to a 42-39 win over Carson in the State Farm Classic. Ku’ulei Haupu scored 16 points, Lauren Lemburg had 10 points, Abbey Paulson had five points and Katelyn Morse added five points for Carson, which plays North Valleys at North Valleys for third at 10:15 a.m. today.

Sierra Lutheran triumphs

RENO — Kirsten Iverson scored 10 points to lead the Falcons past the Spanish Springs freshman team at the State Farm Classic.

Amanda Almeida pulled down 13 rebounds and Alyssa Rowe had 12.

Senators rout Damonte

RENO — Johnny Randall scored 11 points to lead Carson to a 63-44 win over Damonte Ranch at the State Farm Classic.

Jordan Torres and Derek Barry added nine each, and Trent Robison chipped in eight. Carson is now 5-6 entering its final game of the tournament today.

FRESHMAN BASKETBALL

Carson dropped by Fernley

RENO — The Vaqueros knocked off Carson, 46-28, Wednesday at the State Farm Classic.

Danny Escalante led CHS with 14 points. CHS plays today at 1:45 p.m.