Vandal boys basketball starts season 4-4

After hanging with Mineral County last week, the Eureka County High School boys basketball team got a 45-40 win over Pyramid Lake on Saturday, Dec. 13, while falling later in the day to Smith Valley, 78-58. They lost to Virginia City at home on Friday, Dec. 12, 46-30.

“We knew it was going to be a challenging weekend playing three of the top teams from the west, but it was good for us to know where we stand and what we need to work on as the season progresses,” ECHS head coach Fred Minoletti said. “We did not play well – our worst game so far this season – on Friday night versus Virginia City, only scoring 30 points. It wasn’t anything they did defensively; we are just struggling to put the ball in the hoop.  Hopefully it’s just an early season thing.”

Conditioning has been an issue for the Vandals thus far this season, according to Minoletti, who thought his team lost its legs in the second half of games against Yerington and Mineral County last week, citing a drop in shooting percentage and more turnovers as games progressed. That improved this week, though.

“Even though we lost by 20 to Smith Valley, it was our best game offensively,” Minoletti informed. “We spaced, shared and shot the ball much better, but obviously need to play better defensively, especially transition D, if we want to close that gap with them by the end of the season.”

ECHS hosts Tonopah (3-4) at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 20, before starting its league schedule at Wells at 7 p.m. on Jan. 2.