Playoff spots on line for boys basketball teams

Boys basketball teams began official practices in November, hoping to find the right formula to make a run into the playoffs.

The work will pay off for 16 Southern Nevada Class 4A teams and 16 more small-school squads as the playoffs begin next week.
Before that, though, positioning and even a couple of playoff spots still are on the line.

Following is a look at each league’s playoff situation as of Wednesday night. Final pairings will be posted on Nevadapreps.com as soon as the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association makes them official.

CLASS 4A

The top four teams in the Northwest and Southwest leagues qualify for the Sunset Region playoffs. The top two teams in each league host a quarterfinal game on Feb. 17. The semifinals are Feb. 19 and the championship Feb. 20, both at Palo Verde.

The top four teams in the Northeast and Southeast leagues qualify for the Sunrise Region playoffs. The top two teams in each league host a quarterfinal game on Feb. 17. The semifinals are Feb. 19 and the championship Feb. 20, both at Liberty.

SUNSET REGION
NORTHWEST LEAGUE

Who’s in: Cheyenne (12-1), Palo Verde (11-2) and Mojave (8-5).

Who still can get in: Legacy (7-6) and Centennial (6-7).

Who’s out: Cimarron-Memorial (4-9), Arbor View (3-10) and Shadow Ridge (1-12).

Breakdown: Cheyenne will earn the No. 1 seed with a win against Mojave or a Palo Verde loss to Legacy on Thursday. If Palo wins and Cheyenne loses, the Panthers get the No. 1 seed, and Cheyenne falls to the No. 2.

Palo wins a tiebreaker against Cheyenne. The teams split their regular-season series. If Mojave beats Cheyenne and Palo wins, Palo and Cheyenne will have beaten the same league teams the same number of times, canceling out the second tiebreaker of beaten opponents’ points. The third tiebreaker — who won the second meeting — would apply, giving Palo Verde the edge.

Mojave, which would lose a tiebreaker to Legacy on beaten opponents’ points, needs a win or a Legacy loss to get the No. 3 seed. If Legacy wins and Mojave loses, Legacy will be the No. 3 seed and Mojave the No. 4.

If Legacy loses and Centennial wins, Legacy and Centennial would tie for fourth at 7-7. Centennial, which swept its season series from Mojave, gets the nod on beaten opponents’ points, and Legacy would be eliminated.

SOUTHWEST LEAGUE

Who’s in: Bishop Gorman (14-1), Durango (14-2) and Sierra VIsta (11-4).

Who still can get in: Western (8-7) and Desert Oasis (7-8).

Who’s out: Spring Valley (6-9), Bonanza (5-10), Clark (3-12) and Pahrump Valley (0-15).

Breakdown: Gorman, which swept Durango, has clinched the No. 1 seed.

Durango is locked in as the No. 2 seed and Sierra Vista the No. 3.

Western gets the No. 4 seed if it beats Clark or Bishop Gorman beats Desert Oasis on Friday.

If the Diamondbacks win and Western loses, Desert Oasis gets the No. 4 seed. Western and Desert Oasis split meetings, but a Desert Oasis win over Gorman would give it the edge in beaten opponents’ points and knock Western out of the playoffs.

Sunset quarterfinal matchups:

Northwest No. 4 at Bishop Gorman
Northwest No. 3 at Durango
Sierra Vista at Northwest No. 2
Western or Desert Oasis at Northwest No. 1

SUNRISE REGION
NORTHEAST LEAGUE

Who’s in: Desert Pines (11-0), Eldorado (9-2), Canyon Springs (7-4) and Las Vegas (7-5).

Who’s out: Rancho (2-9), Valley (2-9) and Chaparral (1-10).

Breakdown: Everything has been decided here.

Desert Pines has locked up the top seed. Eldorado also gets a home game.

Canyon Springs is the No. 3 seed even if it loses to Rancho on Friday. The Pioneers split their season series with Las Vegas, but a win over Eldorado gives Canyon Springs the edge in beaten opponents’ points.

Las Vegas is the No. 4 seed.

SOUTHEAST LEAGUE

Who’s in: Foothill (11-2), Silverado (11-2), Liberty (9-4) and Coronado (7-6).

Who’s out: Green Valley (5-8), Del Sol (4-9), Basic (3-10) and Tech (2-11).

Breakdown: Let’s start with the easy part. Liberty is the No. 3 seed and Coronado the No. 4.

Foothill holds the tiebreaker edge over Silverado here. For those of you screaming “Silverado won the second meeting. They win the tiebreaker,” the answer is no. Remember that beaten opponents thing? That factors in before the second meeting.

Foothill swept Liberty, which no matter what will finish with more wins than any team not named Foothill or Silverado in the Southeast League. Silverado beat Liberty only once. Foothill’s other loss is to Coronado, which Silverado beat twice.

Even if Foothill and Silverado lose on Thursday, Foothill still gets the edge, though it does get a little more tricky to figure out.

The bottom line is that Foothill will be the No. 1 seed unless it loses to Del Sol and Silverado beats Green Valley.

Sunrise quarterfinal matchups:

Las Vegas at Southeast No. 1
Canyon Springs at Southeast No. 2
Liberty at Eldorado
Coronado at Desert Pines

The two region champions advance to state. The two region runners-up will face each other, likely on Feb. 23, with that winner earning the South’s third state bid.

CLASS 3A SOUTHERN LEAGUE

All four teams in the league qualify for the playoffs. The semifinals are Feb. 19 and the championship Feb. 21, all at Desert Oasis.

Who’s in: All aboard. It’s a four-team league.

Breakdown: Faith Lutheran (3-2), Moapa Valley (3-2) and Virgin Valley (3-2) are tied for first. Boulder City (1-4) is the No. 4 seed.

The good thing is that with Faith and Moapa playing each other on Friday, a three-way tie is impossible.

Any one of the three teams still can be the No. 1 seed, but Moapa Valley is the team that controls its destiny.

Without wasting hours of your time, here’s the skinny:

If Faith beats Moapa and Virgin Valley beats Boulder City: Virgin Valley is the No. 1 seed, Faith the No. 2 and Moapa the No. 3.

If Faith beats Moapa and Virgin Valley loses: Faith is the No. 1 seed, Moapa the No. 2 and Virgin Valley the No. 3.

If Moapa beats Faith and Virgin Valley beats Boulder City: Moapa is the No. 1 seed, Virgin Valley the No. 2 and Faith the No. 3.

If Moapa beats Faith and Virgin Valley loses: Moapa is the No. 1 seed, Virgin Valley the No. 2 and Faith the No 3.

Semifinal pairings:

Boulder City vs. No. 1 seed
No. 3 seed vs. No. 2 seed.

The two semifinal winners earn a state bid.

CLASS 2A SOUTHERN LEAGUE

The top four teams qualify for the playoffs and advance to the league semifinals on Feb. 20 at Desert Oasis. The championship is Feb. 21, also at Desert Oasis.

Who’s in: Needles (12-0), Lincoln County (9-3), Agassi Prep (8-4) and The Meadows (8-5).

Who’s out: Calvary Chapel (5-7), Mountain View (3-10), White Pine (2-10) and West Wendover (2-10).

Breakdown: Needles has wrapped up the No. 1 seed. Nothing else has been determined.

Lincoln County has the inside track on the No. 2 seed and would wrap it up with two wins or a win and an Agassi Prep loss. Agassi Prep swept Lincoln County, so it would get the edge in a tiebreaker if one is needed.

Agassi also wins any tiebreaker with The Meadows. Those two teams split, but Agassi’s two wins against Lincoln County give it the edge in beaten opponents’ points.

The Meadows has to beat Lincoln County on Saturday to have any chance of moving out of the No. 4 spot.

Semifinal pairings:

No. 4 seed vs. Needles
No. 3 seed vs. No. 2 seed
The two semifinal winners advance to state.

CLASS 1A SOUTHERN LEAGUE

The top eight teams make the playoffs with the top four teams hosting a quarterfinal game on Feb. 17. The semifinals are Feb. 20 at Durango with the championship set for Feb. 21 at Desert Oasis.

Who’s in: Lake Mead (9-0), Henderson International (9-1), Beatty (7-2), Pahranagat Valley (7-2), Spring Mountain (6-4) and Trinity (4-5).

Who still can get in: Round Mountain (3-6), Tonopah (3-6) and Lund (2-7). Two of the three make it.

Who’s out: Indian Springs (1-9) and Sandy Valley (0-9).

Breakdown: Lake Mead is the No. 1 seed and Henderson International the No. 2. Lake Mead beat the Wolverines in their matchup.

Pahranagat Valley will be the No. 3 seed with a win over Round Mountain on Friday or a loss by Beatty to Lake Mead. Beatty would be the No. 4 seed in either case.

If Beatty wins and Pahranagat Valley loses, Beatty gets the No. 3 seed and Pahranagat the No. 4.

Spring Mountain is locked into the No. 5 seed and Trinity into the No. 6. Trinity beat Round Mountain and Tonopah.

The No. 7 and 8 seeds still are up for grabs. Tonopah claims the No. 7 seed with a win over Lund. A Tonopah win also would make Round Mountain the No. 8 seed.

If Round Mountain wins and Tonopah loses to Lund, Round Mountain gets the No. 7 seed and Lund the No. 8 seed.

If Lund beats Tonopah and Pahranagat Valley beats Round Mountain, there will be a three-way tie involving Lund, Round Mountain and Tonopah that will be decided by point differential in the head-to-head games.

For now, the advantage lies in Round Mountain’s hands, but if Lund wins by 11 or more points, Lund gets the No. 7 seed. If this scenario plays out, we’ll leave it in the capable hands of the NIAA to make the call.

Quarterfinal pairings:

No. 8 seed at Lake Mead
No. 7 seed at Henderson International
Trinity at No. 3 seed
Spring Mountain at No. 4 seed.

The two finalists earn a spot in the state semifinals.