Galena boys fall to Reno

The Reno Huskies went for broke early against the Galena Grizzlies and the tactic paid off in a 55-52 win in the semifinals of the NIAA Northern 4A boys regional basketball playoffs Thursday at Morse Burley Gym.

Reno, now 24-5, opened with a 21-5 run and threatened to knock out Galena early, but the Grizzlies clawed back with their own 12-0 run and the game was up for grabs until late in the fourth quarter.

Reno closed the show when they made the most of their trips to the foul line (9-of-14 in the fourth quarter) and advanced to Saturday's finals against Hug at Carson High School, beginning at 6 p.m.

"It was huge to get up on Galena," said first-year Reno coach Kyle Schellin. "When they're up 10-0, its feels like it's 20-0. They get the lead and then make you play defense."

But it was the Huskies who first got the lead and then protected it the rest of the way.

Senior J.J. Mulligan led Reno with 18 points, followed by Michael Nelson (10), Bryan Carano (eight) and Wallace Van Allen (seven).

The 6-foot-7 Mulligan and Kyle Elliott had the touch early and buried back-to-back 3-pointers for a quick 6-0 lead. After a pair of Mulligan three throws, Galena junior Eric Maupin hit a long fadeaway jumper to keep the Grizzlies close at 8-5, but Reno turned on the afterburners.

In less than three minutes Reno went up by 16, for a 21-5 lead, beginning with a Carano basket and capped by a Mulligan trey.

"Coach told us to get them down or it would be an uphill battle for us," Mulligan said. "We focused on coming out right away and getting the lead."

Although Reno did just that, it was the Grizzlies who took the initiative after 6-foot-7 sophomore Luke Babbitt converted a pair of free throws to begin Galena's comeback.

Senior guard Justin Norvick's three made it 21-10 at the end of the first quarter. Babbitt opened the scoring in the second with a layup and was followed by a three from Tristan Hill and a Brice Crook putback to narrow the gap to 21-17.

Babbitt led all scorers with 29 points and scored 11 straight points for the Grizzlies, beginning with a long jumper with 3 minutes, 16 seconds remaining in the third quarter. Another long two in the third quarter, making it 35-33, was followed by yet another jumper and then a 25-foot 3-pointer to bring Galena back to within two at 40-38, with 6:23 to go.

But it was pretty much Babbitt's one-man scoring attack versus Reno's balanced offense and Galena (now 22-7) would only get within four (44-40) on a Babbitt 16-footer with 4:29 remaining and within three on the last shot of the game - again by Babbitt - for the final score.

"Brian Carano is just a stud," Mulligan said of his teammate, who was assigned primarily against Babbitt. "We just said, 'You get Luke (Babbitt). We'll get ours.' Luke got points, but they were hard-earned."

Schellin said he didn't expect his team to be able to shut down the sensational sophomore and didn't want to double-team him.

"Everyone tries to double him, but he still gets 25 points a night," Schellin said. "We knew he was going to get his, but we didn't want Crook and Hill knocking down threes on us. We did the job on everyone else. Babbitt got a lot of points, but Brian made it tough and he had to work for it."

The Galena fans tried to make it tough on Mulligan, chanting "Shave your mustache" when he went to the free-throw line.

"I hear that a lot," said Mulligan, who with his longish hair and thin mustache, resembles Gonzaga's Adam Morrison. "Kyle (Elliott) and I are growing good-luck mustaches for zone. We'll stick with it."

Galena coach Tom Mauer said at the conclusion of Tuesday's win over North Valleys that he was concerned about playing Reno, which had beaten the Grizzlies by more than 20 points in two games over the summer and fall. He was no less impressed at the conclusion of Thursday's game.

"I'll tell you right now...Kyle Schellin got his team to play like a team," Mauer said. "He has seven seniors who didn't have a clue how good they were. Kyle did an outstanding job of getting his team together. Reno did a great job corralling our kids and playing as a team.

"Their seven seniors are very, very talented. They came out ready to play basketball - not that our kids weren't ready to play. We weren't battle-tested like those kids were. They play basketball like it should be played."

The task for Reno will be to try and continue its momentum in Saturday's championship game against the Hug Hawks, who defeated Reed, 70-63, in Thursday's other semifinal match.

Hug, 26-3, was undefeated in Sierra League play and twice defeated the Huskies. Hawks guard Armon Johnson scored 32 in the victory over Reed and averaged more than 30 points in league play.

The girls playoffs continue today, with Carson facing Galena at 5 p.m., followed by Reed and Reno at 7.