9Last weekend was tough on the Mineral County High boys basketball team as they played Friday and Saturday’s contests without three players.

Despite being shorthanded, the Serpents played tough and were able to come away with one win against two conference opponents.

On Friday, the Serpents went on the road to Smith Valley and played a very determined bulldog team and came away with a 57-55 win.

The Serpents built a 10-point lead twice against the Smith Valley crew but could not put them away. All five starters were in the scoring column for Mineral County. Tyshawn Bonner and Taylen Wachsmuth led the way with 18 points each. Brandon West had nine points while Brady Cardenas and Isaiah Crowl added six points each. The win gave the Serpents a 7-1 conference record, tied with Whittell.

On Saturday at home, 8-0 Virginia City came to town, having defeated Whittell Friday night. The Serpents put their best effort of the season together but lost a heart-breaker to the Muckers 46-45.

The game was tied at half time 26-26. It looked like the Muckers were going to pull away as they led 40-32 at the end of the third period. The Serpents could only pull in six points, all by Wachsmuth. However, the MCHS boys held V.C. to only six points in the last quarter and were down 44-42 with a minute to play. With 11 seconds left, V.C. made two free throws to extend the lead to four. Crowl hit a three-pointer from the corner with three seconds remaining but there were no time-outs left to stop the clock.

It was a tremendous defensive effort that controlled the fast paced Muckers. The diamond and one defense had the boys confused and didn’t allow Clint Hess to get his offensive show going. Cardenas held Hess to eight points, who averages over 22 points a game. The other four Serpents did a great job in their diamond zone.

Offensively, tMineral County was led by Crowl, who had 17 points, including five three-pointers.

Cardenas finished with 13 points and Wachsmuth had 10. Bonner had five points and had a great floor game with seven assists. Brandon West had four assists and Wachsmuth had seven rebounds.

This week, the Serpents play Sage Ridge at home on Tuesday. Friday’s game will be at home against Sierra Lutheran and Saturday will be an away game at Coleville.