One of the boys top prep teams came to Pahrump on Monday, hoping for an easy win. And it looked like that’s what it would be when in less than two minutes of play the Trojans boys basketball team gave up 10 unanswered points.
But Desert Pines coach Mike Uzan decided to take out his starters. After all, why waste good starters on a 5-12 overall team.
Despite not changing the outcome of the loss, 78-46, Pahrump managed to give the Jaguars something to think about in the first quarter.
As soon as the Jaguar (8-8 overall, 2-1 Sunset League) starters came out, the Trojans came back surprisingly quickly, led by junior guard Antonio Fortin, who had a hot hand.
He sank two three-point shots in the first quarter and Cory Bergan also got into the act by sinking one late in the first quarter, along with Bryce Odegard at the end of the half.
The Trojans not only came back but almost tied the game.
With just 6:11 to go in the first quarter, Pahrump was down 17-18.
Uzan had enough experimenting and put all his starters back in at once midway through the first quarter and they had to work hard to take the lead again.
At the half, the Trojans could boast that they sank three 3-point shots against one of the top teams in the Sunset League.
The Jaguars first string slowly rebuilt the lead to 33-25 at the half.
Desert Pines outscored Pahrump in the second half 19-9 in the third, and 26-12 in the fourth.
Once the Desert Pines first string came back in, Pahrump was outmatched physically by the Jaguars.
Fortin led Pahrump, scoring 23 points and Bergan and Odegard each had six.
The Trojans play another hot team, Cheyenne (8-3, 3-0) on the road at 6 p.m tonight.
Contact sports editor Vern Hee at vhee@pvtimes.com.