Vandals Look to Improve at Round Mountain This Weekend

Eureka went 1-3 at the Whittell tournament last weekend. They dropped the first two games, but split the next two.

“We lost our first game to Pyramid Lake 58-49,” said coach Fred Minoletti. “We didn’t play very well defensively that game, it’s one of those you should win, but don’t.”

The next game was with Mammoth, Calif, and the Vandals lost a close one 49-43. “We had a 26-24 lead at half,” Minoletti said, “but were outscored 25-17 in the second half. Chase Green was out leading scorer. We just couldn’t hit anything the last two periods.”

Also on Friday, the Vandals won their only game at Whittell, edging North Tahoe 56-52. Minoletti said, “We were able to play pretty good team ball even after Green had to sit out in foul trouble.”

The Saturday game was with the Hug varsity of Reno, but the score was not available, although Minoletti said it was a wide spread win for the Hawks. “They pressured us the whole game until about the last two minutes or so. But I looked at that as being good for us, because we’re not likely to see anyone in our own league who will do it as well as the Hawks were, or that big and that athletic including 6-6 senior Treyvon Cotton. Good for our kids to have to deal with all of that.”

This Friday and Saturday, the Vandals (5-3) play at Round Mountain and have games scheduled with Round Mountain (0-8), Tonopah (1-6) and Beatty (3-1). The boys had wins over both the Knights and the Muckers at the Wells Rural Electric Classic the first weekend of the month. 57-19 over Round Mountain and 67-52 over Tonopah. But they have split with Beatty the last two years at the Round Mountain tourney, losing to the Hornets last year, 57-46.

In summarizing the team’s play up to this point, Minoletti said, “The last two games, North Tahoe and Hug, we did a lot of good things to allow me to feel pretty good going into this weekend. We’re figuring things out. The chemistry is getting a little better.”

Then as the girls do, the boys will host Battle Mountain Dec. 19 before the holiday break.