HAWTHORNE, Nev. – The South Tahoe High School boys basketball team hit the road the weekend of Dec. 7 to play in the Hawthorne Classic Tournament. 

It was a great trip with some successful basketball, Coach Phil Bryant said. The Vikings went 3-1 with wins over Yerington 75-66, Pershing County 52-39 and Bishop Memorial 48-35. The lone loss was to Dayton 51-35. 

“It is great to win early, but early December wins don’t do anything for making the playoffs in February,” Coach Bryant said. “These early games are to find out what players fit into what roles and how do we get better each time we play.”

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In the Yerington win, four players scored in double figures with Esha Davis leading the way with 17, followed by Ronan Fisher with 16, Parker Bryant with 15 and Oscar Mendoza with 12. Kai McClain was again the leader on the boards while getting big help from Logan Kelso.  Coach Bryant added that, “We had good intensity for most of the game, but didn’t really get our transition game where I want it to be.”   

In the Pershing County game, Coach Bryant felt the team was sluggish and not as focused as they needed to be. “Our scoring was down, rebounds were down and turnovers were up,” the coach said. “We need to take better care of the ball and take better shots.” Bryant and McClain were the leading scorers with 13 each.  

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“The loss to Dayton was a huge disappointment to us all,” he said. Although the team was aware they weren’t playing well, he explained, they couldn’t get themselves on the same page with one another. Players were lacking double digit scores and intensity.  All 12 players got into the game, but no one seemed to be able to get anything productive done.  “When it’s a game like that, it’s on the coach to get the right combination of players in the game and to encourage stronger, more competitive play,” Bryant said. “None of us did our job in that game but it sure better be a lesson learned.”

It appears it was. The Vikings finished strong with the win over Bishop Memorial. The team looked back to normal as three players finished with double digits, led by Fisher with 13, McClain with 11 and Mendoza with 10. 

“It is nice to be 4-1 at this point in the season but several areas of concern were exposed in the Hawthorne games,” Bryant explained and is walking away with a list of areas to improve on. The list includes defense staying in front of their matchup, improving offensive and defensive rebounding, and transitioning offense to defense and defense to offense. 

“The guards are pushing but we don’t quite have team buy-in to getting where we need to be as we move down the floor,” coach expressed.

Bryant highlighted Mendoza as a player rising up to be the team’s defensive stopper with Adrian Smith being the next man up. The team’s starting guard play and scoring is beginning to get some depth inside with McClain, Kelso and Vinny Gangitano. 

“We really miss Ryder Tanacci and Marcus Haven at this point,” Bryant said.

Coach noted Ryder Preston, Nash Bigley, Gabe Diaz and Kayden Morales continue to improve.

The team has a tough next three games coming up with Lowry, Fernley and Fallon. 

“We will really know where we are in our division after those games,” Bryant said.