Darrell Moody: There’s never a good reason to run up the score

It seems like every year I deal with teams running up the score, especially in girls basketball. And, Bishop Manogue and Reno, and to a lesser extent Reed, are the teams that usually are guilty.

Those three schools have been elite in the 12 years I’ve been in Nevada, and I’m sure they will continue to be.

Case in point was Tuesday night when Reno embarrassed Wooster by a reported 81-4. Are you kidding me? No disrespect to Wooster, but Reno could start its second team and still win the game by double digits.

Two years ago, Reno led Carson by a big margin. In fact, the second half was going to be played with a running clock. What does the Reno coach do? He sends out Mallory McGwire and two other starters to begin the second half.

When I questioned the Reno coach about it after that game against CHS, he told me that parents get on him about playing time. Last year Manogue, despite being up by nearly 40 points, or maybe it was 40 points, trotted out three-fifths of its starting line-up for the second half.

There was no need, and even some folks at Manogue knew that. I had a parent from Manogue write to me a couple of years ago, after the same type of column saying I shouldn’t criticize players from Reno and Manogue because of the lopsided scores; saying that they worked hard at becoming good basketball players. I would never dispute that. Manogue and Reno are very good programs, two of the best in the state.

The parent obviously didn’t get it, however. His daughter was trying to get a scholarship.

All he was thinking about was points. Shame on him.

The parent should be smart enough to know that if a college coach sees the team winning 79-20 he/she isn’t going to be surprised that the potential recruit scored just six or even points.

When it gets to a running clock, a starter should never be on the floor unless somebody fouls out or gets injured and there is nobody else to put in.

And, you shouldn’t be pressing, trapping or shooting 3-pointers. There is no reason to embarrass anybody, especially in a league game when you know the opponent is decidedly weaker.

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This just isn’t a Nevada issue.

There are just some coaches/schools that don’t understand the meaning of sportsmanship.

Last week, the Froid-Medicine Lake Redhawks beat Brockton, 102-0.

That isn’t a misprint.

Because of injuries and other absences, Brockton started the game with just five players, including an eighth-grader. Brockton lost a player to injury, finishing the game with four players.

It should have become apparent early that Brockton wasn’t very good with the team it had on the floor, and the winning coach should have realized that. Also, Brockton should have asked for the game to be postponed to a later date when more of its players were available.

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My solution in basketball is to do what baseball and softball does. When the run rule is reached, the game is over in five innings.

In basketball, I suggest if a team gets up by 45 points, the game is ended. When these coaches start losing valuable minutes for ALL of their players maybe they will come to their senses and practice sportsmanlike behavior.

There are schools in Northern Nevada who are what they are, and they are never going to get significantly better. The vast majority of players on the Carson don’t play travel ball where they are going to see top-flight competition.

For many of the players, basketball is played only at certain times of the year, and they shouldn’t be criticized by that. Some kids specialize and others don’t.

In this day and age, if you don’t play or practice hard out of season, improvement will never come.

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The final alignment for the next two years of high school sports was released on Friday, and there were no surprises. North Valleys is moving down to 3A and Wooster is now being moved up to 4A in football.

The state has added a 5A division for all sports, but it will incorporate just Las Vegas schools. That is a good thing, All of the Las Vegas schools are huge, and besides, who really wants to have to play Bishop Gorman in anything. I’ve said this in the past, no Northern Nevada football team will ever beat them, and I’ve had several Northern 4A coaches agree with that statement.

Arbor View, Basic, Gorman, Canyon Springs, Centennial, Coronado, Faith Lutheran, Foothill, Green Valley, Las Vegas, Legacy and Liberty are the 5A schools in football.

Blair Roman, Carson High football coach, pointed out that the 4A in Las Vegas is still pretty stacked with teams like Palo Verde, Durango and Sierra Vista, all of whom had winning records in league play this past season.

It certainly will be a more user-friendly division for Northern Nevada.

One thing to remember is that Southern Nevada uses a point system, so you could see movement between 4A and 5A, especially in sports other than football.