Any time a team puts up 74 points and the leading scorer only turned in 10 of those, the coach is bound to be happy.
But it was defense that had Douglas boys' basketball coach Corey Thacker talking after the Tigers beat Fallon 74-27 to open Sierra League play in Minden Tuesday night.
"We held them to seven in the first quarter and they had 12 at halftime, so we wanted to take the second half to work on a new defense," Thacker said. "We thought because of that we were going to give up some more points. Our goal was just to stay under 40."
The Tigers gave up just eight second half points - four in each quarter - and only two second-half field goals.
"They stayed focused on defense the entire time," Thacker said. "That's what we were most proud of."
Garrett Getty led the Tigers with 10 points, Jeremy Burkhart had nine, Nick Maestretti, Jorey Scott, Hunter Myers and Matt Thomas each had eight, Theo Denson had seven, Austin Neddenriep had six and Chris Downs and Brett Anderson each had four.
"It's something we talk about all the time," Thacker said. "If you share the ball like that, it adds up in a hurry. We share the ball, the kids are showing that they trust their teammates to score.
"That's an awesome thing to have that balance. You'll get a kid who just explodes here and there, but we like having that balance. The kids are really starting to understand what their role is. We still have a ways to go, but they are settling into the system."
Douglas had runs of 13-2, 13-3 and 13-2 in the game. Fallon's Jake Johnston led the Greenwave in scoring with 11 points and Miles Adams had four.
GIRLS
Fallon held Douglas without a field goal over the final 6 minutes, 27 seconds to hold on for a 37-34 win in Minden Tuesday night.
Douglas closed the score to 35-34 on a layup from Jackie Harper early in the fourth quarter. Fallon's Carly Martin hit a basket with five minutes left and the two teams went scoreless for the remainder.
Fallon opened the game on a 12-1 run and built a lead as big as 16 in the second quarter.
Douglas, though, went on a 12-0 run to cut the score to 23-16 and later tied the game at 27 midwyay through the third quarter.
Harper led the Tigers with 15 points, Ne'Jae Jackson added nine and Katie Dry had six.
Sara Parsons led the Greenwave with 12 points, Khaliah Brown had eight and Lena Wolf had six.