Hayden Strasdin, 3, leaps past Spring Creek's players to shoot a basket in the Elmo Derrico gymnasium.
The Greenwave boys basketball team took on some of the top teams in the league last weekend.
The Wave split the weekend’s action winning a close 58-48 game against Spring Creek on Friday. On Saturday, Fallon fell 72-57 to Elko.
Friday’s game against Spring Creek came right down to the final minutes. As the third quarter opened 39-32 to Fallon, it was still anyone’s game; Trey Rooks opened with a basket, followed by Brock Richardson, then Spring Creek’s Alex Woster pushed through to score twice, 43-37.
The Spartans closed the score to 48-42 to Fallon. The Greenwave pushed back, though, with the final push from Fallon’s John Cooley and Thomas Steele.
The game started with the Spartans taking an early lead. Rooks was the spark as he broke through the Spartan defense to close to a one-point difference. Rooks along with Richardson, Bryce Larson and Christian Nemeth pushed the Wave ahead 14-9 at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter started with Fallon opening to a 10-point advantage.Fallon entered halftime with a 34-19 lead.
Spring Creekclosed in the third quarter but Fallon was able to hold on for the victory.
Saturday’s game against Elko was a battle all the way through. The Indians opened the game on a 10-0 run before Rooks put Fallon on the board. Elko kept its advantage until Cooley added onto the Greenwave score, nailing back-to-back baskets, to make it 19-7 after the first quarter.
Fallon picked up its pace in the second quarter, slowly closing in. Elko, however, held a 13-point lead at halftime (33-20).
In the third quarter, the action was back and forth. Fallon was never able to cut the lead to below 10 as Elko held a 49-36 lead.
In the final quarter, Elko pushed to a 20-point lead. Fallon though fought back cutting it to 15 as the game finished.
Fallon coach Chelle Dalager noted Elko is one of the top teams in the league, having lost only a handful of league games in the last three years. Against Spring Creek, though, Dalager was pleased. She said the game went well, but noted they found themselves needing to improvise when Hayden Strasdin had to step out of the game with an injury. Jace Harmon stepped in and was a big asset, tallying six assists and firing up the team, Dalager said.
“He was a sparkplug,” Dalager said.
Cooley, Nemeth and Thomas Steele were leaders on the scoreboard. Cooley and Steele led the team both scoring 22 points during the weekend. Nemeth added 18 points. Steele also was a leader in rebounds with seven over the weekend.
Dalager said the Wave would have to work on playing through screens and their offensive rotations.
“We have to try to do a better job of when people put that type of pressure on us, we have to be able to run our offensive sets without hesitating,” she said.
She also plans to work on box out rebounding, pressure defense and offensive sets.
This weekend Fallon takes on Truckee and Pershing County at home. Friday’s game against Truckee will begin at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday’s game will start at 4:30 p.m.