RENO - After a too-close-for-comfort finish against Wooster the night before, the Douglas boys' basketball team wasn't about to let it happen again against Damonte Ranch Saturday night.
The Tigers got balanced scoring from their nine active players, again missing their top three scorers, as they rolled over the Mustangs 70-51 in Reno to wrap up the regular season with a 21-8 record overall and an 11-3 mark in Sierra League play. "We finished stronger tonight, there was no doubt about it," Douglas coach Rob Streeter said. "We put four complete quarters together and it was just a solid win."
After surrendering a 24-point lead the night before against the Colts before prevailing in overtime, Douglas left little room for doubt in this one.
The Tigers had runs of 17-4 and 13-4 in the third and fourth quarters respectively and allowed just three field goals from the Mustangs in the fourth to put the game away.
Douglas got off to a little shaky start in the game as the Tigers took the floor with an entirely new combination for the starting lineup.
"We wanted to give each senior a chance to start and we threw Ryan (McPeek) in there with them and it just took them a little while to find a rhythm out there," Streeter said.
With Keith Olson, Jeff Nady and Mike Gransbery all resting minor injuries in preparation for the playoffs, Jared Trowbridge, Brandon Bernard, Joe Nady and McPeek joined regular starter Nate Whalin to open the game.
Douglas jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but Damonte Ranch took advantage of a couple miscues on defense to break off a 10-0 run for the 10-4 lead.
Trowbridge hit the back end of a pair of free throws and Kevin Emm came on to hit two baskets, leading the Tigers on a 9-4 run to close out the quarter trailing by one.
"Kevin came in and gave us a nice boost and had one of his better games of the whole year," Streeter said.
The Tigers pushed the run to start the second as Whalin hit a pair of buckets and Nady and David Laird each added one of their own to put Douglas up 21-17.
Damonte drew back within two at 21-19 but Trowbridge hit a pair of free throws and Laird added another basket to put the Tigers back out.
A miniature collapse to start the second half put Damonte back up 31-29 with a 5-0 run to start the third but after a Douglas timeout, the Tigers rattled off nine of the game's next 12 points to go up for good.
Laird and Nady each finished with 18 points to lead the Tigers while Emm had 11 and Trowbridge had seven.
McPeek finished with five, Whalin had four and Herman Fillmore finished with two.
Douglas will travel to Reed Wednesday night for the first round of the Northern 4A Regional playoffs.
"This was a good way to go out in the regular season," Streeter said. "We have a group of experienced guys in there who have some high expectations. We need to see if we can put three complete games together next week in the playoffs."
GIRLS
Douglas sealed up the No. 3 seed out of the Sierra League Saturday night, taking a 29-19 win over Damonte Ranch to finish the regular season at 14-16 overall and 8-6 in league play.
The Tigers allowed only three field goals from the Mustangs through the first three quarters, including none in the first, and held Damonte standout Colleen Carlson to six points.
Carlson had been averaging a triple-double for the year, but was limited to single figures in all statistical categories (eight rebounds, four steals, one assist) Saturday night.
Meanwhile, Douglas had a tough time finding the hoop as well, but got 13 points from Jessica Waggoner, seven of which came from the free throw line, and seven points from Dany Heidt.
Taryn Williams finished with four, Bridget Maestretti had three and Sarah Hartley had two.
Douglas finished the regular season winning five of six after coming alive in the second half of a non-league game at Elko last month.
The Tigers will take on High Desert No. 2 seed Galena, a team Douglas has beaten in each of the schools' last three playoff meetings, Tuesday night in south Reno.