Basketball: Oasis boys keep playoff hopes alive

The Bighorns boys basketball team is making a push toward qualifying for the postseason after sweeping a pair of home games last week.

Oasis Academy defeated Coral Academy, 60-18, last Monday at the city-county gym before taking down Silver Stage, 52-30, on Friday.

The Bighorns improved to 4-8 in the Northern 2A with two weeks left in the regular season, including a pair of games against North Tahoe on Saturday and Wednesday. Oasis Academy closes the season next weekend with a home game against Pershing County followed by a road contest against Sierra Lutheran.

Only the top six teams advance to the regional tournament in West Wendover in three weeks. The Bighorns sit in seventh and are two games behind Pershing County for the final spot. They lost to the Lovelock school by 21 points on the road earlier in the season and defeated Sierra Lutheran in the first meeting.

Last week’s wins, though, snapped a three-game losing streak as Oasis Academy used a strong second quarter to open up its game against Coral Academy.

Fenn Mackedon and Trevor Barrenchea combined to score 18 of the team’s 22 points in the second quarter to give their team a 34-15 lead at the break. Strong defense in the second half limited the Falcons to four points in the third quarter.

“I wanted to work on our half-court trapping defense and the boys responded well, getting 20 steals and 17 deflections during the game,” Oasis Academy coach Don Schank said. “It was also nice to see our shooting percentage get to where it should be and scoring coming from multiple players shooting 44 percent for the contest.”

Mackedon ended the night with a double-double to lead the Bighorns with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Barrenchea added 13 points and five steals, Austin Booker scored nine points and grabbed five rebounds while Matthew Bird added seven points, six rebounds and five steals. Jason Newmann scored five points, Kayden White had three and Eli Jones added two.

In the win over Silver Stage, defense set the tone again for the Bighorns as they raced out to a 20-6 lead in the first quarter.

After seeing the Lyon County school trim the deficit to eight at halftime, Oasis Academy got back on track with a 30-point second half.

"It was great to see the shots fall for the team,” Schank said. “You could see their confidence get higher and higher as the game progressed. That's a big part of being a scorer."

Mackedon led the team in scoring with 28 points, including making 7-of-8 from the 3-point line, and Bird made 6-of-8 field goals to finish with 12 points and was one rebound shy of a double-double. Booker and Hunter Adams each scored four points, and Barrenchea and Zander Sheldon-Davis each had two. Barrenchea led the team in assists (four) and steals (five), while Mackedon had a team-high four blocks.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

The Bighorns’ girls team fell to Coral Academy, 51-14. No score was reported for the Silver Stage game.