Nobody ever accused Galena boys basketball coach Tom Maurer of being a brilliant mathematician.
"Yeah, he canít count," smiled Galena senior Luke Babbitt after his 38 points led the Grizzlies to a 63-54 High Desert League victory over the Bishop Manogue Miners Saturday night on the road.
The numbers Maurer can indeed count are the five victories the first-place Grizzlies now have in the High Desert League without a loss. The veteran coach can also count each victory in Galena's current winning streak in High Desert League play which now stands at 30.
The number Maurer had trouble with earlier this week, however, is Babbitt's career point total. It was believed that Babbitt set the state record for career points scored on Jan. 12 in Las Vegas at Desert Pines. But after checking old scorebooks on Monday Maurer said he discovered that Babbitt was still 21 points short of the record of 2,616 points held by Hug's Armon Johnson (2004-07) and Western's Prince Fowler (1991-94).
"It's my fault," Maurer said. "On Monday we had to verify the record and when we checked it we were off by (21) points. Blame it on me."
Galena fans, then, actually were witness to history on Friday night without knowing it. Babbitt scored 23 points in a 53-30 victory over Fallon, leaving him in first place in career scoring, according to Maurer, at 2,618 points. The record-breaking basket came with 4:40 to go in the game against the Greenwave.
Babbitt, who is now at 2,656 points after scoring 38 against Manogue, said Maurer told him early last week before the Fallon game that the record still belonged to Johnson and Fowler. Nevada Interscholastic Activities Director Eddie Bonine, though, still honored Babbitt before the Fallon game for supposedly breaking the record at Desert Pines.
Maurer said he didn't tell the rest of the Grizzlies until after Saturday's victory at Bishop Manogue that Babbitt actually broke the record on Friday night.
"If that is wrong, then I take the blame," Maurer said. "Luke is not the type of kid that wants any more attention than is necessary. He's just not like that. All he cares about is this team winning. He didn't want to go through all of that attention again so we kept it quiet until (Saturday). That's the way he wanted it."
"That's OK," Babbitt said. "We didn't really want any more fanfare. It was no big deal."
The only thing Babbitt and the Grizzlies are concerned about now is defending their High Desert League, Northern 4A Region and Class 4A state championships. They exploded out to a 33-21 halftime lead against Manogue and had to hold off a late charge by the Miners to remain unbeaten in High Desert League play.
"The Reno game, the Reed game, this game, it keeps happening to us," Babbitt said. "We have to learn how to get a lead and keep it."
Galena, which has now won five of its last six games to climb over .500 overall at 11-10, technically did keep the lead against Manogue. The Miners, now 13-6 overall and 4-1 in the High Desert League, pulled to within one twice in the final three minutes at 52-51 and 54-53. Manogue went on a 14-2 run over the first five minutes of the third quarter, forcing seven Galena turnovers along the way.
"Earlier this year Reno made a run at us and we didn't want that to happen again," Galena guard Markis "Goose" Robinson said. "Coach called a big timeout and we talked it out and we went out and won the game. We know we can work through those things."
The Grizzlies outscored Manogue 9-1 over the final two minutes to pull away. Deon Ashley started the run with a pair of free throws for a 56-53 lead. Scott Bristol then scored inside for a 58-53 lead with 1:15 to go. Jake Mansfield scored on a layup off a feed from Bristol with 45 seconds to go for a 60-54 lead. Babbitt then added a pair of free throws and Bristol, who scored nine points for the second consecutive game, had one in the final 15 seconds to secure the victory.
"We've been finding a way to hold teams off," Babbitt said. "That is a positive. But we've also given up some games this year like that. We have to get better at closing games out."
"I'm beginning to sound like a broken record," said Maurer, choosing an interesting cliche considering the mix-up earlier in the week. "We've done this before this year, getting a lead and then letting a team make a run. But the bottom line is we're getting the job done.
"We want to stay positive about all this. And I'd rather play games like this where we have to fight to win than to win in a blowout. These games should help us later (in the season)."
Galena led by as much as 18 (48-30) with two minutes to go in the third quarter. Babbitt scored Galena's first 14 points of the game and had 22 at halftime. The 6-foot-8 power forward also crashed to the floor on his tailbone and had to go to the bench briefly late in the third quarter.
I'm real sore," said Babbitt about a half hour after the game. "And now my wrist and elbow are sore. I didn't even feel that until now. But I'll be all right."
Babbitt also had to endure constant taunting by the Manogue crowd.
"It's always fun to play in front of a hostile crowd," Babbitt said. "It makes you practice harder during the week and play harder in the game. It pushes you."
Babbitt converted 15-of-22 shots from the field after draining 10-of-12 against Fallon the night before.
"This was a big game for us," said Babbitt, who hasn't lost a league game since the end of his freshman year. "They were 4-0 like us. We had to win this game."
Babbitt clearly sparked his teammates.
"We played off his enthusiasm," said Robinson, who scored all four of his points in the second quarter. "The fire he had tonight got us all going."