Douglas High senior Evan Tolbert puts up a floater in the lane Tuesday against Reno in the quarterfinal of the Class 4A North boys regional tournament. Tolbert had 19 points and seven rebounds in the Tigers’ 68-53 loss to the Huskies.
Photo by Ron Harpin.
Douglas High School boys basketball knew it had an uphill climb Tuesday in the quarterfinal of the Class 4A North regional tournament against Reno.
The fourth-seeded Huskies had bested the Tigers twice in the regular season and were the hosts for the third meeting.
Reno was able to slowly pull away over the course of the second half in a 68-53 win for the Huskies that advanced them into the semifinal at No. 1 Spanish Springs Thursday night.
Douglas’ season comes to an end with a 12-13 record.
“The biggest thing is they (Reno) hit big shots,” said Douglas head coach Corey Thacker. “They do a good job attacking offensively.”
EARLY ROLL
Tiger senior Evan Tolbert kicked off the contest with the Tigers’ first eight points, stepping out beyond the 3-point line for a pair of triples to open the game.
His third bucket came on a runner through the paint that gave Douglas an 8-5 lead.
Caden Thacker battled his way through contact a couple minutes later for a basket on a drive to the rim to tie the contest at 13-13.
The last time the Tigers led Tuesday came on their next bucket, as Jesse Messick sank a corner triple off a pass from Luke Main after Main zigged through the Reno zone defense.
Douglas; 16-15 lead turned into a 20-18 deficit after the first quarter and a 36-28 gap at the half.
The Tigers trailed by as many as 12 in the third quarter, 43-31, but rallied behind another scoring run from Thacker and Tolbert.
Noah Coyne assisted back-to-back triples for Douglas from Main and Tolbert to make bring Douglas within six, 47-41, with 3:04 left in the third.
After a Husky basket, Thacker finagled his way down the baseline before opening up for a mid-range jumper.
Douglas’ offense managed eight points in the fourth quarter as Reno pulled away in over the final eight minutes.
Tolbert ended the game with a team-high 19 points on 7-of-15 shooting alongside seven rebounds.
Thacker concluded his final varsity game with 17 points. Messick added 11 for the Tigers in the loss while Main had three points, seven rebounds, three assists and four steals.
“I thought Evan came out and played confident. They had to adjust to him. Proud of a senior coming out and playing with confidence like that,” said coach Thacker. “We changed up our offense big time this year. … They made a lot of adjustments.”
Both Daron Kizer and Noah Kizer did not play in Tuesday night’s regional contest and were not on the bench.
CLASS 4A NORTH REGIONAL SCORES
No. 1 Spanish Springs 71, No. 8 Reed 34
No. 4 Reno 68, No. 5 Douglas 53
No. 2 Damonte Ranch 80, No. 7 McQueen 52
No. 3 Bishop Manogue 56, No. 6 Galena 29