Vegas Invite: Rebounding keys Moapa Valley win

Moapa Valley boys basketball coach Stuart Humes thinks rebounding might be the key to his team’s success.

Senior Josh Cox did his part in the fourth quarter on Saturday.

Cox grabbed four rebounds and scored eight points in the fourth quarter to help the Pirates hold off Spring Mountain for a 62-56 win in the consolation championship of the Vegas Invitational at Mountain View.

“For us to be successful we have to rebound defensively and get a few cheap ones offensively,” Humes said. “Our defensive rebounding fuels our transition. When we can rebound the ball at a high rate, we’re pretty tough to stop.”

Cox finished with a team-high 14 points, and his rebounding down the stretch helped Moapa Valley earn a 29-22 edge on the glass in the second half.

The Pirates led 33-31 at the half, but extended their lead to 44-36 on a rebound bucket by Derek Reese in the final minute of the third quarter.

The Golden Eagles rallied and got as close as two points after consecutive baskets by Josiah Johnson cut the Moapa Valley lead to 46-44. But the Pirates responded with an 8-0 run, highlighted by a steal and slam by Reese, to essentially put the game away.

Lucas Walker had 11 points, four rebounds and eight assists for Moapa Valley, which got 11 points and 11 rebounds from Cameron Reese. Walker’s final basket pushed the Moapa Valley lead to 62-46 before Spring Mountain closed the game on a 10-0 run.

Humes said he was pleased with his team’s performance in the tournament. The Pirates’ lone loss was a 77-51 setback to Sierra Vista in the quarterfinals.

“Any time you can go into league getting three wins out of four games in four days we’ll take it,” Humes said. “There’s a lot of good competition in this tournament. We were happy with the results. Sierra Vista kind of humbled us a little bit. That was kind of nice.”

Robert Arcenaux had 22 points, 14 rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocked shots to lead Spring Mountain. Johnson added 13 points for the Golden Eagles.

Buckley (Calif.) 59, Sky Pointe 18 — The Griffins opened the game on a 14-0 run and rolled past the Eagles.

Tournament MVP Shawn Wayans had all 14 of his points in the first half to lead Buckley, which led 41-9 at the break.

Dillon Akers added 12 points on four 3-pointers for the Griffins, who were declared the tournament champions after winning a semifinal against Chadwick School (California) on Friday. The other semifinal between Sierra Vista and Bonanza was ruled a double forfeit after a skirmish at the end of the first half.

Dakota Samson had eight points for Sky Pointe.

Pahrump Valley 63, Nuview Bridge (Calif.) 55 — The Trojans outscored the Knights 8-0 in overtime to earn the victory.

Grant Odegard had 19 points and was 5-for-6 from the free-throw line in overtime to lead Pahrump. Chance Farnsworth added 16 points for the Trojans.

Juan Martinez paced Nuview Bridge with 15 points.

Chadwick School (Calif.) 72, Mountain View 34 — Jordan Yang had 17 points to help the Dolphins rout the Saints.

Ethan Park had 11 points, and Alex Rosso scored 10 for Chadwick, which outscored Mountain View 35-9 in the second half.

Tyler Anthony paced Mountain View with 12 points.