Prep basketball season finales packed with intrigue
By Duke Ritenhouse;
Tournament basketball doesn't begin in Northern Nevada until Feb. 18, but there's already a playoff-type urgency for many teams entering the final week of the regular season.
Most teams will play twice this week. Very few of those teams know what their exact postseason fate will be, so the emphasis will be on finishing with a couple of wins — along with some serious scoreboard-watching of other games.
Winning once will be enough for some teams to punch their playoff tickets. Others need a pair of wins. And some need help from other teams.
When the dust finally settles on Saturday, we'll know who got the job done and who didn't.
Playoff possibilities are at the front of our weekly roundup of high school basketball happenings.
Forty-eight spots
Teams from throughout the Northern part of the state are competing for a combined 48 playoff spots, 24 apiece on the boys and girls side (eight in Division I, four in both I-A and III, and eight in IV).
Many of those spots are already clinched, although this week will almost certainly see some shuffling of the playoff seeding. Some leagues, like Division IV West, have already determined who their playoff participants will be. The West League will send Whittell, Virginia City, Mineral County and Sierra Lutheran into the boys playoffs, while Pyramid Lake, Smith Valley, Mineral County and Coleville will compete on the girls side.
The Division I-A girls' representatives — Elko, Spring Creek, Lowry and Fallon — are also known.
Division I boys
Galena (12-2 league record) has clinched the Sierra League title and will open the Division I North playoffs with a home game.
Below the Grizzlies, it's a scramble. Three games separate second place (Damonte Ranch, 9-5) from fifth place (Bishop Manogue, 6-8). Douglas and Carson, both with 8-6 records, face each other Friday on the final day of the regular season in what could be a meaningful battle for up to four teams.
Reed (12-2) has a two-game lead over Spanish Springs in the High Desert League and will win the title with any combination of a win or a Cougar loss. North Valleys and McQueen, both 4-10, will have a two-game sprint to determine the fourth and final playoff spot from the HDL.
Division I girls
Both leagues are down to two-team title races. In the High Desert, Reno (13-1) leads Reed (12-2) by a game, with Bishop Manogue (12-2) in front of Carson by a game in the Sierra.
Three teams are fighting for the last two playoff spots out of the Sierra. Damonte Ranch and Carson are both 7-7, one win in front of Galena (6-8).
Frantic Friday
There's no shortage of quality games scheduled for Friday, the final day of the regular season for Division I teams (many schools in the lower divisions will also play on Saturday).
On the boys side, games which will potentially settle league titles and playoff spots — or are just good, old-fashioned rivalries — include Spanish Springs at Reed, Carson at Douglas and Galena at Damonte Ranch. Each of those games will start at 7 p.m.
For the girls, those same three matchups are intriguing, as is the Hug-North Valleys game, which has the potential to create a fourth-place tie in the High Desert League.
Girls games will get underway at 5:15 p.m.
Spanish Springs scorer
With 21 points in a Friday win over Hug, Spanish Springs' Kenny Meyer became the school's career leading scorer.
The 21 points were right on his season average of 20.7. Meyer also dishes out a team-leading 3.9 assists per game.
Meyer will be able to add to his career total of 1,014 points in games this week at McQueen and Reed.
REGION TOURNAMENTS
DIVISION I: Boys, Feb. 19, 21-22; girls, Feb. 18, 20, 22, at home sites and Spanish Springs. Top four teams from the High Desert League and Sierra League qualify.
DIVISION I-A: Feb, 21-22, Elko. Top four teams qualify.
DIVISION III: Feb. 21-22, Battle Mountain. Top four teams qualify.
DIVISION IV: Feb. 20-22 at North Valleys and Wooster. Top four teams from the West League and East League qualify.