By Charles Whisnand
Appeal Sports Editor
If the Douglas High boys basketball team makes a run to winning the NIAA 4A State Championship, the club's starting five could forever be known as the Iron Men.
It's a rare thing in this era when a team relies heavily on its starting five as much as Douglas does. It happened on Sunday when USC basically went with its starting five for as much as possible during the whole 40 minutes in its 56-46 loss to UCLA in men's basketball.
Don't be surprised if the Tigers' starting five plays as close as possible to the entire 32 minutes during this week's NIAA 4A State Tournament at Lawlor Events Center, which begins today. Douglas will play Cheyenne in one semifinal at 4:40 p.m. today while Reno High will play Foothill in the other semifinal at 8. The winners will play for the state title at 8 p.m. Friday.
The Dayton High boys basketball team will have iron men of its own as well as it also depends heavily on its starting five. The Dust Devils have advanced to their sixth straight state event and will play Sparks at 4 p.m. Friday at Lawlor in the NIAA 3A State semifinals. If Dayton wins that game it would go on to play the winner between Faith Lutheran and Incline for the title at 5 p.m. Saturday.
Yerington's girls are also in the 3A state event and will play Lowry in the semifinals at 2:20 p.m. Friday. The winner will play the winner between Pahrump Valley and Truckee at 3:20 p.m. Saturday.
The Tigers' starting five of 6-7 Jeff Nady, David Laird, Ross Bertolone, James McLaughlin and Kevin Emm all log in a significant number of minutes.
When asked if his starters will be asked to play 32 minutes, Douglas coach Corey Thacker said, "We'll be close to that. We try to give them a couple of breaks."
Douglas can go eight or nine deep with sixth man Tim Rudnick and Parker Robertson, C.J. Marcotte and Herman Fillmore.
In Cheyenne, Douglas will face a team that likes to play up temp and full court press. The Tigers will look to keep the game in the 50s and will not want to be involved in a track meet with Cheyenne. "We're going to try to control the tempo and run our pace of game," Thacker said.
Douglas said Reno is similar to Cheyenne in that it tries to play up tempo. While Reno has controlled the series against the Tigers all year - winning all three meetings convincingly - Douglas was able to slow down the Huskies in last week's Northern 4A finals for three quarters before Reno pulled away for a 69-53 win.
Even in facing high-octane Cheyenne, Thacker said the goal is to hold Cheyenne to 50 points. "That's always going to be our goal," he said.
"They're a team that likes to get up and down the court," said Thacker about Cheyenne, who has three players who average in double figures. "They're a full court team. They have a lot of quick guys."
Bertolone will have to continue to play well at point guard for Douglas. "He's really stepped up the last couple games and hopefully he can continue that," Thacker said.
Thacker said the play of Emm and McLaughlin at guards will be just as important in handling Cheyenne's pressure.
Cheyenne is a physical team, but so is Douglas and a physical battle rather than an up tempo game could actually favor the Tigers. Douglas likes to wear down teams with its physical play like it did in two wins against Galena this season.
Thacker also appreciates the second chance his team has received after losing to Reno, noting that last year's Douglas team didn't have that opportunity after losing to eventual state champion Galena 56-55 in the Northern 4A finals.
"It's great for the program," Thacker said. "It's great for the school and it's obviously very exciting for the players. This year they have that second chance and another opportunity to win a state title."
DAYTON BOYS VS. SPARKS, 4 P.M. FRIDAY, LAWLOR EVENTS CENTER
The Dust Devils are looking for redemption after losing to eventual Northern 3A champion Sparks 53-42 in the Northern 3A semifinals. Dayton earned a trip to state with a 70-61 win over Truckee in the Northern 3A third place game.
Dayton actually may have received a favorable draw as it avoided having to play Faith Lutheran, the overwhelming favorite to win the title, in the semifinals.
"You've got to beat them at some point and hopefully we'll give ourselves an opportunity to get there," Dayton coach T.W. Cunningham said.
The Dust Devils won the first two meetings against Sparks before struggling in the playoffs.
"Offensively we really never gott of the bus," Cunningham said. About his team's shooting against Sparks last week, Cunningham said, "It was ugly."
Cunningham said the key on Friday will be to just play better defense "and a ton of better execution on offense." He said his team neeeds to "just make open shots."
There will be no secrets between the two teams heading into their fourth meeting. "We've seen each other quite a lot the last two weeks," Cunningham said.
Cunningham said he's most concerned about Sparks' athleticism. Dayton relies heavily on its starting five of Tannar Wood, Jerrin Foster, Ryan Ransdell, Hans Meyer and Josh Goodfellow.
Byron Trigueros is the sixth man and Jelani Perkins, David Gomez and Chris Sikora add depth. Cunningham said Foster's play against Truckee was key in allowing Dayton to advance to state.
YERINGTON GIRLS VS. LOWRY, 2:20 P.M. FRIDAY, LAWLOR EVENTS CENTER
The fourth meeting between these two promises to be another down-to-the-wire affair like the first three. Yerington won the first meeting 66-59, but lost the last two 65-63 and last week in the playoffs 58-54 as Lowry went on to win the Northern 3A title. Yerington advanced to state by beating Dayton 47-35 in the Northern 3A third place game.
Yerington has a balanced attack and among its leaders are Kayla Lommori, Kiara Ross, Karrie-Ann Quartz and Angela Marracini.