John Cooley passes the ball to Dalton Kaady during a Greenwave home game earlier this season.
Before their final game of the regular season, Fallon coach Brad Barton said the Greenwave needed good momentum going into regionals. They nailed it in Truckee Saturday, overwhelming the Wolverines 70-55.
The Greenwave travels to Winnemucca tomorrow for the Northern 3A regional tournament. Fallon plays Spring Creek at 8 p.m. at the Winnemucca Events Center. The winner will go on to face Elko Friday at 8 p.m. before moving to the championship round.
“Hopefully we’ll go up there and ... make a couple adjustments to make a victory that first game,” Barton said.
Things started close against Truckee, but by the end of the first quarter Fallon cemented a lead it would hold until the end of the game. Truckee briefly took the lead with a three-pointer, then tied the game at five a short time later. The Greenwave dominated the court, though, and quickly expanded the lead until the quarter ended 22-12.
Fallon continued its defensive pressure in the second quarter. Truckee closed to four points but couldn’t get past Fallon. The Greenwave came together and pressed back, opening the score to 39-30.
After halftime, Fallon blew through Truckee’s defense and leapt ahead. It also crushed the Truckee offense and kept it from getting possession. By the end of the third quarter, the Greenwave had opened to 52-39.
This momentum held into the final quarter as Truckee pushed to secure a tie. The Greenwave kept the Wolverines back, only allowing them 16 points before the final buzzer.
Barton said it was nice to go into the Truckee game knowing they already had a spot in playoffs. He said the lack of pressure let the players work on their zone defense and get things dialed in for regionals.
He also said he was happy with the team’s effort. He recalled most of the players got equal time and scoring in the game.
Thomas Steele led the Greenwave with 13 points and three free throws; he also had 13 rebounds, two assists and seven steals. Following him was Kapili Gleason with nine points on three three-pointers, three rebounds and one steal. Eddie Loyden, Dalton Kaady and Hayden Strasdin each scored eight points.
Two players, Bryce Larson and Brock Richardson, have been brought up from junior varsity for regionals. Barton said both have good defense and can handle the ball well to avoid turnovers.
“We’re going to incorporate them into our plan this week and they’re going to help us practice and get ready for the game,” he said. “It’ll be nice having them on the floor to start getting a feel for what the varsity team is about.”
Barton also noted the whole team contributed with offense and defense. He said this was key to them taking an early lead and holding it until the end.
“It’s been a long time since we scored 70 points,” he said. “We put up exactly 70, so it was good to see that offensive output from our entire team.”
Barton recalled they didn’t have as great a season as they would have liked; the Greenwave ended the season 10-14 overall and 7-9 in league. He said they made it where they wanted to be and secured a place in the tournament.
Barton said their hope was to play through Spring Creek and Elko and make it to the state tournament in Las Vegas.
“It’s a tough road, we have to play two really good teams first,” he said.