3A BOYS: Boulder City puts ‘average’ season behind it, claims state title

The Eagles’ performance Saturday night was anything but.

Boulder City, which went 13-16 in the regular season, scored the first 10 points Saturday and never gave up the lead en route to a 62-46 win over rival Moapa Valley in the Class 3A championship game at the Orleans Arena.

The Eagles (16-17) won their first state boys basketball title since 1999.

“The kids believed in themselves all year long,” Boulder City coach Bobby Reese said. “We were a No. 4 seed, but we were losing some tough games. The kids kept their heads up, kept battling. Today is a testament to that.”

Shane Levin had  14 points and 10 rebounds, and Jeremy Smith had 10 points and 14 rebounds as the Eagles used a balanced attack to fend off a second-quarter Moapa Valley (16-8) rally and pull away in the second half.

Boulder City scored the game’s first 10 points, six coming off of Moapa Valley turnovers.

Shaun Hilton’s three-point play with 3 minutes and 20 seconds left in the first quarter finally got the Pirates on the board.

The Eagles, though, still threatened to run away, using a 9-0 run to take a 24-11 lead on Preston Swasey’s drive with 3:39 to go in the half.

Brad Weiss sank six straight free throws to start an 11-0 run that allowed Moapa Valley to close within 24-22 at the half.

But an 11-2 run midway through the third quarter sent the Eagles on their way.

“They made a run at us and we just continued to play defense,” Reese said. “We played phenomenal defense.”

Smith started the run with a baseline drive that gave Boulder City a 28-24 lead, and Joey Felsenfeld scored five of his nine points during the stretch, helping Boulder City open up a 37-26 lead.

The Pirates pulled to within 49-41 on Weiss’ 3-pointer from the right corner with 3:15 to play, but baskets by Levin and Felsenfeld just three seconds apart reestablished a double-digit lead.

“Their kids worked hard,” Moapa Valley coach Dallas Larsen said. “They came out and made some adjustments. They played a great game.”

Swasey added 11 points for the Eagles, who split with Moapa Valley during the regular season and lost to the Pirates, 63-55 in last week’s Class 3A Southern League title game.

“I’ve never had a group of kids that has worked as hard as these kids,” Reese said.

Weiss led the Pirates with 17 points, including an 8-for-8 effort at the free-throw line. Max Jenkins added 13 points for the Pirates, who made just 15 of 41 field-goal attempts.

“We just didn’t hit shots,” Larsen said. “We missed easy shots, and they hit their shots.”