Riding the wave

Hot shooting and a frenetic defense led to a quick kill for the Fallon boys basketball team.

The Greenwave blitzed rival Fernley, 79-48, in a Northern Division I-A matchup Tuesday at the Elmo Dericco Gym.

Fallon’s win pushes the Wave (6-5 league, 9-11 overall) into fourth place, a half game ahead of South Tahoe (5-5, 9-10). Fernley, meanwhile, falls to 2-9, 7-12.

The Wave turns their attention to Truckee (2-7, 4-13) for a 7:30 p.m. game today. It is one of a string of must-win games for Fallon as it fights to hold on to the No. 4 seed.

“If they didn’t come out and play hard the entire basketball game, they were going to be resting (on the bench),” Fallon coach Brad Barton said. “I think it paid off. Everything is urgent now, because if we don’t win out we risk the chance of not accomplishing our goals.”

Fallon suffered a big blow when junior guard Connor Richardson suffered a fractured hand, which was confirmed Wednesday. He will miss today’s game and the Feb. 6 tilt against Dayton (2-8, 4-12), but Richardson hopes he can return for the Feb. 7 showdown at Lowry (8-2, 13-7).

Fallon blew the game open in the first quarter thanks to senior Jeff Evett and junior Connor Richardson. The duo combined for the Wave’s first 12 points as Fallon raced out to a 23-8 lead after the first quarter.

Defensively, Fallon focused on controlling the Vaqueros’ shooting trio of Kevin Montgomery, Dominic Ceresola and Zach Burns.

Fernley was able to muster a 2-0 lead, but quickly fell behind 20-4 before consecutive baskets by Kenan McDonald.

“We needed this one … we knew we had to come hot from the start,” Richardson said. “I think we put the pressure on them … and focused on their big three (Montgomery, Ceresola and Burns). Once we took them out of the game, it was just smooth sailing from there.”

The second quarter was more of the same for the Wave as the offense kept their foot on the gas pedal. Evett added six of his game-high 21 points in the period including a nifty putback to give Fallon a38-15 lead.

Wave junior Clay Davison added to the lead with a nice drive to the hoop followed by a jumper for a 44-15 advantage. He finished with 11 points.

Also getting into the scoring mix was Brandon Turner, who recorded a season-high 15 points.

“Penetrating their man-to-man defense,” Richardson said of Fallon’s offensive success. “We knew we could get to the basket easier.”

As for Fernley, the offense struggled against Fallon’s aggressive full-court press. Turnovers and missed offensive opportunities plagued the Vaqueros, although Fernley did heat up after a subpar first quarter.

Ceresola tallied a team-high 14 points, while Burns added 11 and McDonald had 10. Montgomery finished with four points.

“We have to play with that kind of intensity and that kind of heart for the rest of the season,” Barton added.