The Hug High boys' basketball team held off a late push from the Douglas Tigers to pull away with a 58-55 win at the Reno Events Center Saturday night.
The game, held before the franchise debut of the Reno Bighorns NBA D-League team, sported all the marks of a season-opener as the two teams combined for 60 turnovers and took turns subbing liberally from their respective benches.
"It was an ugly game, turnover-wise," second-year Douglas coach Corey Thacker said. "Both teams were around 30. But it was the first game out with our young guys and we're pretty proud of the effort they showed.
"Hug is an athletic team and we were able to stick with them pretty well."
Douglas got a career-high 24 points from junior C.J. Marcotte in the game as he went 6-for-6 from the line with two 3-pointers. He led all scorers in the game.
Douglas also got seven points from Nick Hales, six from Parker Robertson and five from Cale Pete in the game.
Hug was led by Duke Williams with 15 points.
Douglas built an early 9-4 lead by using baskets from Hales, Garrett Getty and Marcotte to go on a 7-0 run in the first three minutes of the game. It ended up being the longest run for either team in the game.
The Tigers built their largest lead of the night at 13-8 with 17.3 seconds left in the first, but Hug closed the gap with a 6-0 run.
From there the lead changed hands 10 more times before Hug strung another 6-0 run together toward the close of the third to take a 48-43 lead.
A basket from Hales with 3:01 left and a 3-pointer from Marcotte with 2:13 left cut the score to 55-51.
A free throw and a basket put Hug back up 57-51, but Marcotte made a pair of free throws with 1:07 left and Hug was called for traveling after the inbound pass.
Michael Whalin then scored on a putback to bring Douglas within two with 54.7 seconds left.
Douglas had a chance to reclaim the lead on a 3-point attempt with 9.8 seconds left, but the ball bounced in and out, forcing a foul.
Hug's Jaevis Johnson converted the front end, giving the Hawks the 58-55 lead, and Douglas' final desperation shot bounced in and out.
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