Oasis Academy falls short in upset bid over state champs

Two days after losing by 20 on the road, the Oasis Academy boys basketball team nearly upset one of the favorites to win the 1A state title next month.

After watching Mineral County, the defending state champ, surge to a big lead in the first quarter, Oasis Academy outscored the visitors in the next two frames – trailing by two possessions – before falling, 63-55 on Saturday at the city-county gym.

Sophomore Trevor Halloran kept the Bighorns in the game, especially in the third quarter, when he was almost perfect from long range, hitting three of four attempts. Senior Armahn Bradley led the team in scoring with 14 points, Halloran added 11 and junior Douglas Lee and sophomore Jacob Ferrenburg-Pike each had 10.

As a team, Oasis Academy hit nine 3-pointers, led by Halloran. Brantley, Lee and Ferrenburg-Pike each hit a pair.

Thursday night featured a wire-to-wire win for the Sierra Lutheran boys basketball over Oasis Academy.

The Falcons jumped out to an 8-2 start and never looked back, posting a 55-35 win over the Bighorns.

Both teams entered Thursday’s matchup with equal 6-6 records, but the Falcons had more energy from the start.

Sierra Lutheran led 18-9 after the first quarter in which juniors Makez Berger and Shawn Emm combined for 16 of the Falcons’ opening 18 points.

Berger knocked down three shots from beyond the arc in the opening eight minutes while Emm battled his way through the lane for points at the rim.

The two only combined for one basket the rest of the way, but the production they were getting from their teammates is, in their mind, the perfect description of what Sierra Lutheran basketball has been about this season.

After Berger’s three triples only Connor Braz sank a shot from beyond the arc, but the Falcons didn’t need the deep ball as they continued to drive through the paint to the rim for buckets.

Hunter Lamprecht tied Berger with a team-high 11 points in the win and scored several times by driving through traffic in the lane and getting position near the rim.

Dominic Azevedo and Luke Schinzing both scored six points for the Falcons while Teagan Berger added eight points to his resume.

Along with the success of getting to the rim, Sierra Lutheran’s defense held Oasis Academy to 19 points through three quarters of play, building a 24-point lead by the end of the third.

The Falcons limited the Bighorns’ offensive damage to two players as Brantley and Lee scored 14 and 12 points, respectively.