By Joey Crandall
Nevada Appeal News Service
MINDEN - With a regional championship rematch with Galena looming at the end of the week, and a trip to McQueen sandwiched in the midde, it might have been easy for the Douglas High School boys' basketball team to overlook the game that actually counted in the standings.
As it turned out, that wasn't the case at all.
The Tigers got points from every player on their roster, including 3-pointers from six different players, on their way to an 85-40 drubbing of Wooster in Minden Tuesday night.
It was the Sierra League opener for both teams as Douglas improved to 6-3 overall on the year.
"It's a good win," Douglas coach Corey Thacker said. "This is a big week for us, and starting league play was just part of it. Now we have to concentrate on a tough trip up to McQueen (Wednesday) and then another one to Galena (Friday)."
Tuesday night, though, Thacker couldn't have been more pleased with the effort his team put forth.
"Every game we're looking for 32 quality minutes and we got that tonight," he said. "Everyone got on the board and that's a great thing.
"We were sharing the ball well and the guys worked really hard to get those open shots."
After Wooster's Eric Marshall scored on a fast break 28 seconds into the game, Douglas took control and carried a 14-0 run over the next five minutes.
Jeff Nady contributed five of his nine points on the night during the run, Kevin Emm and Tim Rudnick each hit 3-pointers and James McLaughlin added the first two of his game-high 14 points.
From there, Thacker subbed liberally from his bench as the lineup of Ross Bertolone, Herman Fillmore, Drew Hamlett, C.J. Marcotte and Parker Robertson carried the game into the midpoint of the second quarter, building the lead to 29-10.
Bertolone and guard Tyler Hoelzen each had 10 points in the game, Robertson had nine, Emm finished with eight, Marcotte and David Laird had seven, Hamlett finished with four, Rudnick and Nick Hales each had three and Fillmore finished with two.
Rudnick, Marcotte, Emm, Laird, Hoelzen and Nady each hit 3-pointers.
For as impressive as the offense was, it was the defense that carried the night. Douglas limited Wooster center David Torres to 10 points, eight of which came in the second half, and didn't surrender any baskets from outside. Their stifling trap defense created many opportunities in transition as well.