1A BOYS: Lake Mead rides defense, motivation to repeat title

In fact, the Lake Mead junior guard keeps a photograph from the game on his bedroom mirror.

“I wake up every morning and look at it,” he said. “It makes me want to work harder.”

The motivation has paid dividends — two years in a row.

Littlefield scored 24 points to lead Lake Mead to a 59-49 win over Pahranagat Valley in the 1A state title game Saturday at the Orleans Arena.

The state championship is the second straight for the Eagles (25-8).

“We’re not going to talk three-peat,” Lake Mead coach Jeff Newton said. “We’re champions for 365 days.”

Littlefield shot 9-for-22 from the floor, including 4-for-11 on 3-pointers. Alex Mayorga added 10 points on 5-for-6 shooting for the Eagles, who held the Panthers to three points in the first quarter.

Pahranagat Valley (23-8) was held scoreless for the first 5½ minutes and shot 5-for-27 from the field in the first half.

“It was the whole big game, big gym thing,” Panthers coach Brian Higbee said. “We forgot what got us here, and that was taking the ball at the basket and being aggressive.”

Cody Hoiser paced Pahranagat Valley with 15 points. Tommy Williams scored 12 and Brady Whipple 11.

The Panthers went on a 7-0 run to pull within 22-16 late in the second quarter, but they never got closer. They trailed by as many as 16 points in the second half.

“That’s a fine basketball team, as good a basketball team as you’ll see in the 1A, ever,” Higbee said.

In going 10-0 in 1A Southern League play, the Eagles held opponents to an average of 28.7 points per game.

“That’s what we preach, and that’s why we win,” Newton said of defense. “We played great help-side defense, and we played great on-the-ball defense. We take pride in it.”

Lake Mead outrebounded Pahranagat Valley, 45-28.

Littlefield played hurt the entire season, wearing a brace on his left knee to protect a torn anterior cruciate ligament suffered before the season. Yet there he was, running on top of a media table to chase a loose ball with his team ahead by double digits.

“Landon’s a tough kid,” Newton said. “I don’t think he’s actually told us how much he’s hurting.”

Lake Mead became the first team to win repeat 1A state titles since Lincoln County in 1992 and 1993. No team has won three in a row since Yerington from 1987 to 1989.

Though Newton deflected talk of a three-peat, Littlefield couldn’t help but ponder the possibility with he and starting backcourt mate De’Quan Thompson returning.

“People want to beat Lake Mead, but we’re creating a powerhouse,” Littlefield said. “We’re just going to come back and keep working. We want it next year, too.”