Greenwave stumbles in Las Vegas

So close yet so far.

The Fallon boys basketball team dropped three of four games last week at the Legacy Tip-Off Classic in Las Vegas.

The Greenwave (1-3) opened the tournament against the reigning Division I-A state champs, Clark, who used a 21-2 second quarter run to pull away with a 66-35 win.

Fallon followed up with a 61-60 overtime loss to Virgin Valley before blowing past Sunrise Mountain, 58-44, for the Wave’s first win of the season.

In the tournament finale, Fallon fell to DIV foe Coral Academy of Science of Las Vegas, 52-29.

“We are way ahead of where we were last year,” Fallon coach Brad Barton said. “We wanted to establish our goals and identity. That’s why we went down there. Now, we are looking for leadership.”

On Thursday against Clark, the Wave played the defending champs tough, as the two clubs finished the first quarter tied at 17.

From there, the Chargers’ speed and athleticism proved to be too much and exploded with a big second quarter. The Wave, though, regained its edge in the third period to hold just about even with Clark, although the Chargers still outscored Fallon 15-11.

Jeff Evett led the Wave with 12 points, while Brandon Turner added nine.

“We started off playing them strong,” Barton said. “I would say Clark was our best game as far as tempo and limiting our mistakes. They are a little deeper than us.”

Friday’s duel against Virgin Valley proved to be an even matchup, although the Wave used a 15-4 fourth quarter to tie the game at 57 and force overtime.

The Bulldogs, though, managed to hold on twice thanks to a pair of missed open layups to secure the win.

Barton said his team missed an open shot on an inbounds pass under the basket as time expired in the fourth quarter. In overtime, Fallon again couldn’t hit the game-winning shot as the ball rimmed out.

Evett again led the Wave with 23 points, while Clay Davison added 15 including four 3-pointers.

Free-throw shooting, though, killed the Wave as Fallon hit 16-of-27 attempts in the one-point loss.

“We started slow … and put on a little pressure and press and clawed our way back,” Barton said. “We drew up a play and had the right guy, with the right shot rimmed out, so we went to overtime. In overtime, we had the same scenario and missed the layup. The good thing is we started behind and fought back.”

Against Sunrise Mountain, center Bradlee Stands led the Wave with 16 points followed by 15 from Evett and 11 from Connor Richardson.

Fallon jumped out to a 14-8 first quarter lead and held a 29-19 halftime lead. The Wave went cold in the third quarter as Sunrise Mountain trimmed the lead to 31-28.

A big fourth quarter, though, lifted Fallon to its first win as the Wave outscored the Miners 27-16 to seal the victory.

“We put some things together,” Barton said. “Connor Richardson started playing a little better.”

In the final loss of the tournament, Evett led the team with 17 points. No other player had more than three points against Coral Academy.

Barton said his team fatigued and couldn’t muster an attack, offensively or defensively.

While the Wave dropped three games, Barton said his club was in each game, save for Coral Academy.

“They had some big, strong athletes on their team,” he added. “Our boys were tired and we didn’t perform very well in that game.”

The tournament established the second-year coach’s rotation and roles for each player leading into this weekend’s Northern DI-A tilts against Spring Creek (Friday) and Elko (Saturday).