Head Coach Chelle Dalager found out quickly how well her team would respond after its first loss of the season.
Three days after an impressive and convincing win to open the season, the Greenwave boys’ basketball team dropped a 24-point decision to Vacaville before outscoring its next two opponents by a combined 53 points in last weekend’s Reno-Sparks tournament.
“We’ve started off pretty well in our season,” Dalager said. “It’s giving the boys confidence and it assures them they’re competitive.”
After the 61-37 loss to Vacaville on Thursday, Fallon defeated Incline, 80-64, on Friday and then followed with an 80-43 win over Wooster on Saturday to improve to 3-1 on the season. Fallon entertains Spring Creek on Friday and Elko on Saturday to begin the 3A conference schedule.
John Cooley, who was named to the all-tournament team, led Fallon in scoring with 12 points and blocked two shots against Vacaville and Hayden Strasdin added 11 points. Thomas Steele grabbed nine rebounds.
“Their effort was not great. We had a conversation with them,” Dalager said, referring to when Fallon lost to Vacaville in last year’s tournament as well. “We’re not the same program. We have to approach every game as a new program, which we are.”
Enacting the press, which caused turnovers and led to transitional baskets, helped give Fallon breathing room against Incline.
“They’re not a bad team at all,” Dalager said. “They hustled and shot the ball really well. We didn’t beat them until the last four minutes of the game. It was good competition for us.”
Cooley, again, led Fallon in scoring in the win over Incline with 18 after shooting 50 percent from the floor. Christian Nemeth scored 16 points, Steele added 12 and Trey Rooks had 11. Brock Richardson scored 10 points, including two 3-pointers. Nemeth led the team in rebounds with 11 and Rooks had 10, giving both Greenwave players a double-double against the Highlanders. Strasdin also recorded five steals.
In the finale against Wooster, both Cooley and Strasdin each had 15 points as Fallon shot 52 percent from the floor. Steele and Rooks each scored 14 points, and Cooley also chipped in three 3-pointers. Rooks (seven) and Steele (five) led Fallon in rebounded and the Greenwave finished with 20 steals. Steele and Strasdin each had two blocks.
“There are some benefits to being deep on the bench,” Dalager said about the team’s all-around effort against Wooster. “We had fresh legs at the end of the game because we were still rotating.”
