Boys: Fallon opens 3A East play with OT win

WINNEMUCCA – The Greenwave boys basketball team made sure to not let Thursday’s overtime game against Lowry suffer the same fate as last month’s double-overtime thriller.

After going 1-2 in a California holiday tournament the week before, Fallon countered a Lowry rally that sent the game into overtime and held on for a 61-58 road win in the Northern 3A East opener for both teams.

Fallon improved to 13-3 overall and 1-0 in the Northern 3A East while the Buckaroos dropped to 5-7 overall and 0-1 in league play. Fallon traveled to Fernley on Wednesday and returns home to face Dayton on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.

After a slow first eight minutes of play, Fallon led through much of the contest. The Greenwave held a nine-point lead (49-40) after three quarters of play when the Buckaroos’ Jaden Jimenez opened the fourth quarter with a 3-point field goal. Moments later, Fallon pushed the lead back to 51-43, as Luke Glinka made a 3-pointer of his own.

The Greenwave’s lead shrunk to 51-48 with 5:31 to play, with a 3-pointer from Lance Brinegar and a layup by Jordan Bills. Following a timeout, Fallon stopped the short run with a bucket by Shawn Alexander and increased the advantage to 56-50 with 3:56 to play. However, Alexander later fouled out with a team-high 13 points.

Without Alexander on the floor, Fallon did not score again in regulation as Lowry scored the final six points. Kayson Garner cut the gap to 56-52 and a layup by Anthony Guzman off a steal by Brinegar trimmed the lead to 56-54 with a minute to go.

The Greenwave turned the ball over on its next possession leading to a basket by Brinegar to tie the game at 56 with 35 seconds to play. The Lowry pressure defense continued to cause troubles for Fallon, which turned the ball over at halfcourt, giving the Buckaroos a chance to win the game.

Out of a Lowry timeout, the Buckaroos’ Dempsey Jenkins got an open look at the basket, but missed the shot with just seconds to play. On the miss a scramble for the ball occurred with it going out of bounds on Fallon.

Of the ensuing out of bounds play, Isaac Danner got off a shot near the basket that rolled off the rim and 60-foot shot by Fallon’s Brady Alves hit off the front of the rim to end regulation tied at 56.

The first two minutes of overtime went scoreless when Jordan Bills gave Lowry a 58-56 lead with 1:50 to play. Those would be the only Buckaroo points in the extra period.

A basket by Alves tied the game at 58 with 1:21 to play and Alves gave Fallon the lead for good at 60-58 with 25 seconds to go when he put back a shot after a missed free throw by the Greenwave.

Lowry turned the ball over on its next possession, which led to a free throw by Alves to make the score 61-58 with 5.4 to go. Alves scored all five of Fallon’s overtime points. A last-second shot by Brinegar to send the contest to double overtime missed off the backboard.

Alves and Trevor Hyde each added 12 points for Fallon and Braden Sorenson scored 11 points.

Danner and Brinegar led the way for Lowry with 18 and 15 points, respectfully. Garner added nine points, Bills seven, Guzman four, Jimenez three and Jenkins two.

Fallon finishes 1-2 in holiday tournament

Facing a trio of California teams, Fallon fell to Encinal (Alameda), 63-21 on Dec. 28 and Mission (San Francisco), 61-49, before winning its final game, 65-45 over Redwood Christian (San Lorenzo).

Alves led Fallon with five points and Alexander and Braden Sorensen each had four in the Encinal game. Sorensen led in rebounds with eight and Baylor Sandberg had seven.

Fallon shot 21 percent from the floor, including sinking only 2-of-18 from long distance.

Against Mission, Hyde broke out with 14 points to tie Alexander for the team lead, and Alves had 10. Lyke Glinka and Sandberg led the team with eight rebounds apiece.

In the 20-point win over Redwood Christian, nine players scored as the team shot 54 percent from the floor. Alexander led the team with 16 points, and Sorensen, Alves and Lucas Durfee each had nine.

After returning from its trip, Fallon notched a key 75-45 win over Hug of the 3A West on Jan. 3.

Alexander continued its scoring spree over the holiday break with a 21-point effort over the Hawks in Reno, and Hyde added 15 and Sorensen had 11. Carter Paul and Alves led the team in rebounding with seven boards apiece. Fallon shot 53 percent from the floor, including hitting 6-of-14 from 3-point range.

Thomas Ranson contributed to this story.