Vaqueros to finish regular season at South Tahoe

Robert Perea, The Fernley Reporter

With two wins last week over Sparks and Truckee, the Fernley High School boys basketball team sealed its trip to the Northern 3A Region Tournament next week in Fallon.

Where they get seeded though, won’t be determined until this weekend.

The Vaqueros finish the regular season with a game Tuesday at South Tahoe, but they will be just interested observers as whether they will be the No. 5 or No. 6 seed is settled Friday and Saturday.

While a win at South Tahoe would certainly help their chances, they could still wind up sixth even with a win over South Tahoe, and also could be the fifth seed even with a loss.

The Vaqueros enter this week in sole possession of fifth place with an 8-9 record, and just the game at South Tahoe remaining, Dayton was in sixth place at 7-8. They were scheduled to face Sparks Saturday, but that scored hadn’t been reported by Monday night. The DustDevils conclude the regular season this week with games at Fallon and at Lowry and could leapfrog the Vaqueros into fifth place with two wins, or slot in behind them with two losses.

For their part, the Vaqueros got into this position by beating Sparks 45-37 last Tuesday, on Senior Night, then rolled past Truckee Saturday, 63-42.

It was defense that got the job done against Sparks, on a night when the Vaqueros struggled to get the ball into the basket.

The game started with a good pace offensively, with Fernley taking a 15-13 first quarter lead, but both teams struggled to score the rest of the way. The Vaqueros made just 17 of 50 shot attempts, including 3 of 20 3-pointers, but they converted 8 of 11 chances from the free throw line, and they also got 18 offensive rebounds.

“I was pleased with our effort on defense,” coach Derek Miller said. “I thought we did some good things offensively, just struggled to finish.”

Daunte Ceresola and Drew Miller each scored 12 points to lead the Vaqueros.

Saturday after a slow start, the Vaqueros got rolling in the second quarter, where they outscored the Wolverines 27-8, thanks to some hot 3-point shooting.

“We have struggled in the past getting off the bus and playing well at Truckee,” Miller said.

This time, the Vaqueros hit nine 3-pointers, with six of them coming from Carson Kingston, who finished with 29 points. While no one else hit double figures, nine different players scored, including 9 points by Miller.