Tiger freshmen fall at home

Nevada's Andrew Heathman shoots for two of his 21 points in Monday night's 50-39 loss to Pleasant Hill at Wynn Gymnasium.

By Eric Wade

Nevada Daily Mail

The Nevada High School freshman boys' basketball team suffered another setback on the court at Wynn Gymnasium Monday night.

Max Whited led the Roosters of Pleasant Hill with 16 points as they defeated head coach Kyle Talley's Tigers by a final score of 50-39. Andrew Heathman led the Tigers' offense with 21 points on the night.

The Tigers stayed right with Pleasant Hill through a majority of the contest, but simply couldn't overcome a number of costly turnovers that ultimately were coupled with a simple inability to keep up with the athletic Roosters players late in the game. Down by just nine points at 40-31 heading into the fourth quarter, the Tigers simply couldn't maintain the pace at which Pleasant Hill was playing, allowing the Roosters to pull away in the final period and take the 11-point victory.

"Tonight, we played really hard," Talley said. "We did turn the ball over against their half court trap some, but it was something we were able to clean up a bit as the game went on. I think we ran out of gas a little down the stretch, but conditioning is something that we can get better at as we move forward."

Despite the issues his squad has shown so far this year, Talley does have a lot to be happy about thus far. "At this point in our progression, I'm very pleased at where we are at. This group does a good job of trying to make sure they do the little things correctly," he said. "They understand that defensively they need to work together as a team unit. We still have a little ways to go offensively. I'm confident that this group of young men will do the necessary work to get better at that."

Next on the schedule for the Tigers is Dec. 6, when they host the Cardinals of Webb City at Wynn Gymnasium. Tipoff for that contest is scheduled for 6 p.m.