Christian Nemeth (middle) shoots for the basket under guard of Craig Smith (left) and Hayden Strasdin during the Greenwave's home game against South Tahoe.
Despite a harrying offense from behind, the Greenwave could not overcome the South Tahoe Vikings Friday at the Elmo Dericco gym.
Fallon’s boys’ basketball team tried to rally, but could not get ahead before the game’s end 66-52.
South Tahoe leapt to an early lead, but Fallon was right behind. The Greenwave quickly caught up and never fell farther than 3 points behind the rest of the quarter. At the end of the quarter, Fallon’s Dalton Kaady tied the score at 13, then South Tahoe edged ahead with a final basket, 15-13.
The second quarter saw Tahoe quickly open the gap. While Fallon pushed back, the wave could not overcome the Viking defenders and closed the half 33-22.
The second half opened with Tahoe pulling ahead again. Fallon had recovered, though, and began edging its way back to 53-40. In a fast series of plays, the Greenwave was back within striking distance with a full quarter left.
That final quarter saw Fallon slowly gaining on the Vikings. The game became more intense and South Tahoe gave up several free throws on fouls; the Vikings were able to stall, though, and ran the clock down before the Greenwave could catch up.
South Tahoe coach Joby Cefalu praised Fallon after the game. He said the Greenwave is a good team and Fallon coach Brad Barton has good things to look forward to; he recalled having to go deep into his bench and field several players beyond his usual rotation.
“That’s a very good team that’s going to cause a lot of damage in the 3A,” Cefalu said of the Greenwave.
Cefalu said his team did well and overcame some issues. He complimented Fallon’s team, noting the Vikings were forced to play on its terms. The Greenwave kept South Tahoe on guard and fighting for the win.
“It was a hard fought game,” Cefalu said. “Fallon’s a great team that everyone has to look out for the rest of the season.”
Barton said there were some adjustments they could have made to make things more competitive. He said the team would be watching recordings of the game to work out specific improvements.
One area the coach noted for improvement was free throws; he recalled they had several opportunities for free throws but failed to score.
“We didn’t shoot well at all,” Barton said. “When you take 26 free throws and only make 13 of them; if we shoot 80 percent from the free throw line, suddenly we’re in that basketball game.”
Barton also noted the team needs to grow into the level of play. He said they had to mature into the harder, faster play of varsity basketball and learn to play at that level. Barton said South Tahoe’s team was older and had quality players who played a great game.
“We knew they were a strong, solid team,” Barton said. “They just had too much firepower for us tonight.”
The coach said Elijah Jackson had a great game. The top scorer for the Greenwave, Jackson scored 13 points with three out of four 3-pointers. Barton said Jackson had been giving lots of turnovers recently, but seemed to have corrected his performance.
Barton also praised Hayden Strasdin. Strasdin was the second highest scorer for the Greenwave with 10. He has been recovering from a football injury and was only recently cleared to play.
“Every time he gets out there, he gets a little bit stronger,” Barton said. “His shot is starting to look better and stronger.”
The team travels to Dayton tomorrow. Barton said they had very little information about the team but were getting video and stats on them.
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