Courtesy photo The Serpent boys play defense during an 82-28 win over White Pine Friday.

The high school basketball season got off to a great start for the Mineral County High boys as they swept all five games they played in the annual Serpent Classic.

Overall, a total of 22 boys and girls teams played 52 games during the three-day tournament, and nobody played better than the home squad.

They kicked off the busy week with a 52-43 win over Battle Mountain on Thursday when Devon Davis led Mineral County with 11 points and Robert McFalls added 10. Seth Bozzi had a team-high 10 rebounds in the win.

The boys were back at it the next day for a pair of games and knocked off White Pine 82-28 in the first and took care of Lovelock 60-23 in the nightcap. Eleven Serpent players got into the scoring column in the White Pine win, led by Bozzi with 13. Ethan Nelms scored all 12 of his points from behind the arc while Treven Wachsmith and McFalls each had 10. Jared Dore had 16 points and 16 rebounds later that night against Lovelock and and Alex Palacios added 10 points.

Mineral County exacted some revenge from their state title game loss to Spring Mountain on Saturday with a 51-38 win over the defending 1A champions. McFalls led the way with 17 points and Damian Montoya had 11. The boys topped Yerington in the tournament’s final game Saturday night by a score of 61-49 with a 24-point effort by McFalls.

“Defense proved to be the best asset as we averaged 12 steals a game as well as holding opponents at an average of 36 points,” said Mineral County coach Pete Summerbell.

Serpent girls finish 1-4

The Mineral County High girls basketball team opened the Serpent Classic with a 45-42 win over Lovelock Thursday, but that was the only win they had all week.

Sophomore Perla Gutierrez led the way for the girls with 25 points against the Mustangs and Jerzi Moody-Isom netted eight to open the season with a win in the team’s first game.

Gutierrez was at it the next day with a game-high 21 points in a 47-43 losing effort to Bishop Union. Raynee Knight and Moody-Isom each had eight in the loss. Later in the day, the girls fell to Hug 67-28.

The tournament wrapped up on Saturday for Mineral County as they fell 47-26 to Battle Mountain and 46-41 to Yerington. Freshman Lashay Stephens led the team with 14 points in the Yerington loss.

Both teams will travel to the Whittell tournament this weekend to play four games each.