Boys' Basketball: Late run lifts Miners past Tigers in showdown

RENO - Oh, how the momentum can turn in any basketball game.

In one instant, the Douglas High boys' basketball team had momentum and a 47-45 lead against Bishop Manogue late in the third quarter. Then, just as suddenly, the Manogue Miners seized it right back and were on their way to an 83-60 victory in a showdown between Sierra League front-runners on Saturday night.

Bobby Hunter, who scored 26 points to lead all scorers, combined with fellow seniors Sutter Childs and Steven Carlson to trigger a 19-6 run over the final three minutes of the third quarter as Manogue took control of the game, and in the process, took over sole possession of first-place in the league standings. Manogue improved to 6-0 in league (13-4 overall). Douglas is 5-1 in league (10-7) and had a four-game win streak snapped.

"They made a good run," Douglas coach Corey Thacker said of the Miners. "They're a good shooting team and they got it going there in the second half.

"It's tough to recover from that, but we've got to learn how to fight through those situations."

The Tigers had it going through most of the first half, leading 16-12 after one quarter and 33-32 at halftime. They led by as many as nine points in the second period after Jorey Scott lobbed an inside pass to Matt Thomas for a layup and Chris Downs fed Brett Anderson for a 3-pointer to make it 23-14.

Manogue began the second half with a run, but Scott scored six points to keep the Tigers within striking distance. Scott, a 6-foot-6 junior post player, then came up with a steal that led to freshman Hunter Myers scoring on a layup, assisted by Jeremy Burkhart, to tie the score 45-45. Next, Anderson got a takeaway off the press that produced another Myers layup, giving the Tigers a 47-45 with 3:09 left in the third period.

Myers finished with 14 points and Scott 10 to lead Douglas offensively.

"We got away from the things that got us the lead in the first place," Thacker said. "We were able to establish our inside game and they really didn't have an answer for that. But then we seemed to go away from it."

And Manogue began to heat up from the outside.

After a timeout, Childs converted a layup off an assist from Carlson and added a free throw to complete the three-point play as Manogue went back on top, 48-47. Moments later, Hunter turned a steal into another layup and Childers buried a 3-pointer from the right side to make it 53-47. Two Kameron Van Winkle free throws brought Douglas back to 55-51 with 1:05 left in the period, but Carlson sank a 3-pointer, Ethan Dillard followed with a bomb, assisted by Hunter, and Carlson knocked down another 3-pointer at the buzzer to extend Manogue's lead to 64-53.

Childers finished with 16 points, Dillard 11 and Carlson 10 for the Miners.

The young Tigers are still in a building mode, according to Thacker.

"Every game, we want to absorb from it and apply the lessons we learn to the next game," said Thacker, whose Tigers will be back at home Friday against Carson in a game that will close out the first half of the league schedule. "Our kids are working hard. They'll continue to stick their noses to the grindstone and keep going."

Jake Tessman and Matt Wylie scored 20 points each as the undefeated Douglas J.V. boys basketball team past Bishop Manogue, 80-65.

The Tigers are now 17-0 on the season.

James TenBroeck also scored 16 points and Nate VonAhsen 14 as Douglas had four players reach double figures. Connor Hughes contributed a strong floor game and good defense, while Steven Werth and VonAhsen played well on the defensive end as well.