Tigers pick up rivalry win over El Do
The Nevada Tigers cruised to its 14th consecutive victory with a 62-46 defeat of rival El Dorado Springs on Thursday night.
The non-conference road win improved the Tigers to 19-3 overall.
On the opening possession of the night, senior Myles McNeley knocked down a trey. Nevada then caused El Do to turn the ball over on its first possession, leading to a Matthew Sommer breakaway lay-in and a 5-0 Nevada lead.
With 2:28 left in the opening frame, Tigers' junior forward Clay Gayman corralled his own missed shot and went up strong for the score, as Nevada led 9-4 before going up 17-12 at the conclusion of the first quarter.
Early in the second, junior Hunter Mason threaded a precision pass from the left elbow to a cutting McNeley who finished at the rim, handing the Tigers a seven-point advantage.
Midway through the second, Nevada wing forward Braeden Hinton ended a three-minute scoring drought after driving into the lane and banking home an 8-footer to put Nevada up 21-12.
From there, Nevada went on an extended run as a Sommer steal and lay-in, followed by a Dalton Gayman offensive rebound and put-back upped Nevada's lead to 16.
Nevada held a 30-13 halftime edge after outscoring El Do 13-1 in the second quarter.
"We played a great second quarter," Gray said. "We pushed the ball, asserted ourselves and played pretty close to what we're capable off. We did a lot of good things."
With 3:12 left in the third, the Tigers doubled up El Do 42-21 courtesy of a Clay Gayman close-range bucket assisted by Hinton. Late in the quarter, Gayman finished at the rim on a double-clutch lay-in, while also absorbing hard contact. After sinking the free throw Nevada led 45-23.
El Do then responded with its best stretch of basketball of the night, an 8-0 blitz that trimmed its deficit to 14.
With 4:45 remaining in regulation, El Do's C.J. Sipes scored and was sent to the charity stripe. Sipes then rebounded his own missed free throw and dropped in two more as El Do trailed 49-38.
Unhappy with the sequence of events, Gray called a timeout and subbed out all of his starters (except Hinton). Gray, looking to get some of his younger players varsity playing time, was immediately rewarded when sophomore guard Carter Swearingen drove to the basket, scored and was fouled as Nevada led 51-38.
Nevada was able to maintain its double-digit advantage for the remainder of regulation.
Gray, however, said he wasn't all that thrilled with his squad's third and early fourth quarter performance.
"In the second half, unfortunately I thought we put it in cruise-control," Gray said. "We weren't sprinting the floor or boxing out well enough. We gave up way too many offensive rebounds."
Gray added that he was pleased with the play of his younger group.
"I was proud of the fact that in the second half we let some younger guys in who gave us some valuable minutes," Gray said. "Because of that we were able to get more rest for our first rotation guys."
For the Tigers, Gayman finished with a game-high 26 points and 15 rebounds, In addition, eight other Tigers got into the scoring column.
"I would like to see us keep our foot on the gas longer than we did tonight," Gray concluded.
Junior varsity
The Tiger junior varsity team was also in action, hammering El Dorado Springs 40-14.
For Nevada (12-7) sophomore forward Matt Thompson finished with a game-high 18 points, including 11 in the second quarter.