Junior Varsity pounds BV

DUNSMUIR – The Dunsmuir Tigers took over sole possession of second place in the Evergreen League with a comeback win over the Big Valley Cardinals on Friday night, 65-62. The game came down to the wire, with Nate Gonzales hitting the game winner, and Matt Norton coming up with a swipe to seal the victory.

Big Valley had an early 6-0 lead. After a Dunsmuir time out, Gonzales hit a trey, and followed up with back-to-back deuces, giving the Tigers a 7-6 advantage. The Cardinals came right back with seven straight points to regain the lead 14-7. Then, the court tilted in the Tigers favor, as Dunsmuir ripped off seven in a row. Erin Kirch sandwiched put-backs around a Jake McIntyre freebie to make the score 14-12. A Matt Norton hoop tied the game 14-14 at the end of one quarter.

The Tigers opened the second quarter with a 9-2 run to lead 23-16 about three minutes into the quarter. McIntyre accounted for the first six Tiger points. Big Valley battled back to tie knot the score 29-29, with under a minute to go. A freebie by Zach Shirley gave the Tigers the lead going into the intermission, 30-29.

The Cardinals went up 33-30 early in the third quarter, before M. Norton tied it with a 3-ball, 33-33. Trailing 35-33, LT Hisey dialed long distance, putting Dunsmuir up 36-35. A bucket and then an old fashion 3-point play gave the lead back to Big Valley 40-36.

With Big Valley leading 46-40, McIntyre scored to cut the gap to 46-42. Kirch hit Barry Norton with a no look pass for a hoop, making it 47-44. After Big Valley scored, McIntyre made a freebie and Kirch added a basket to the Dunsmuir total, to make it a one possession game, 49-47, going into the final frame.

After the horn sounded, Big Valley gave the Tigers a gift. According to an official, a Cardinal threw the ball at the basket out of frustration, and was not attempting to score. The player was penalized with a technical foul. Hisey converted one of the foul shots, cutting the deficit to 49-48.

Kirch tied the game 51-51 with 6:10 on the clock, but Big Valley went back up 56-51.  With the Cardinals leading 60-55, Dunsmuir made its move with a 7-0 run to take the lead 62-60. McIntyre hit a pair from the charity stripe, making it 60-57. Gonzales hit from downtown to tie the game at 60-60, and Kirch put the Tigers up 62-60, with 1:02 to play.

Big Valley tied it at 62-62, but Gonzales drove to the hoop for the game winner, with just 14 ticks on the clock. After Big Valley in bounded the ball, M. Norton swiped it and fed Gonzales, who was fouled. Gonzales made one-of-two freebies, to make the final 65-62. Big Valley had a couple of desperation attempts, but was unable to convert.

Erin Kirch led the Tigers with 19 points. Jake McIntyre and Nate Gonzales each put up 15, and Matt Norton had nine.

The win upped Dunsmuir’s record to 4-1 in the Evergreen League (6-14). The Tigers host first place Tulelake (4-0, 10-8) on Tuesday, February 3.

Junior Varsity

The Dunsmuir junior varsity boys dominated the Big Valley JVs from start to finish, winning 80-27.

The Tiger JVs led 18-10 at the end of the opening quarter. Jacob Mckeel put up 10 points in the quarter. Dunsmuir led 43-15 at the half and 68-22 after three quarters.

Jacob McKeel scored 26 points for the Tigers. Christian DeLeon had 20, Daniel Ballard 17, and Cito De Los Santos added 13 points.