Mineral County High School played host to a total of 24 boys and girls basketball teams last week when the annual Serpent Classic descended upon Hawthorne for a three-day tournament.
While both Serpent varsity teams didn’t fare as well as they had hoped, each notched their first wins of the young season and gained a lot of experience in the process.
The boys finished 2-3 with wins over Right of Passage (ROP) and Silver State, while the girls went 1-4 earning its only victory against Battle Mountain.
The boys opened the tournament Thursday with Bishop, Calif., losing 53-43, in their first game of the classic. The Serpents jumped out to an early lead 14-4, but fell behind two points at halftime, 26-24.
“First game jitters and excitement took its toll in the end,” said coach Pete Summerbell. “We had 26 turnovers, missed several shots in the key, and shot 5 for 27 at the foul line which was the difference in the game.”
On Friday, the boys regrouped and won both games, beating ROP 51-41, and Silver State 62-56.
Jon Cromer led the way for the Serpents against ROP with 16 points and Tyshawn Bonner poured in 12. Brady Cardenas added 9, while Taylen Wachsmuth finished with 8 points.
Wachsmuth was the high scorer for Mineral County against Silver State with 20 points, while Bonner finished with 14 points and Cromer 12.
“The boys did a great job controlling the tempo in both games and added balanced scoring all day,” said Summerbell. “Chandler Isom came off the bench against Silver State, played solid defense and added 9 points, helping us close out the game that went down tot the wire.”
On Saturday, the final day of the tournament, the Serpents fell to a tough Spring Mountain team 58-48 and Yerington 67-35.
“Turnovers and poor foul shooting (9-20) were bug factors in the loss to Spring Mountain,” Summerbell said.
Isaiah Crowl’s kept the Serpents close in the first half, hitting 5 three-pointers as they trailed 32-28 at half. Crowl led the Serpents with 19 points, and Cromer finished with 8. Wachsmuth netted 7 points, while Bonner and Cardenas contributed with 6 points each.
In the final game against Yerington, the boys fell behind 17-5 early after the Lions went on 12-0 run. The Serpents closed the gap to 21-16 after a time-out in the second quarter, but that was as close as they would get the rest of the game.
“We used the second half to work with our young bench crew, and they played very hard defense in only giving up 31 points to the talented Lions,” Summerbell said.
On the girls side, the Lady Serpents started the tournament 0-3 with losses to Lincoln County on Thursday, and Dayton and Silver Stage on Friday. The girls earned their first win of the season on Saturday afternoon against Battle Mountain before closing out the tournament with a loss to Yerington.
Both teams were back in action on Tuesday night when they welcomed Bishop, Calif. back to Hawthorne.
The Lady Serpents fell behind 22-12 at half and nearly completed the comeback, but fell in a tight game 40-35.
The Mineral County boys did nearly the opposite, losing 42-34 after relinquishing a 12-point halftime lead.
Both teams are back in action next Saturday at Mineral county High School when they take on Pyramid Lake.
