PVHS ends seven game streak with Thursday win against SLAM rivals

Mustering only six points in the first quarter, it appeared as if the Trojans mens basketball team was heading down an all-too-familiar road in a league rematch against SLAM Academy.

But Pahrump Valley High School guard Keir Sheppard put his fork in it, ensuring the Trojans their first league victory of the season.

The Trojans (5-16, 1-8) staved off a late fourth-quarter rally by SLAM Academy, defeating the Bulls 53-49, erasing a seven-game losing streak that began at home on Dec. 28th against Somerset Sky Pointe.

The two-sport junior showed out for the packed gym at SLAM Academy (6-10 4-5), giving opposing Bulls fans a performance to remember with a career-high 21 points. Sheppard threatened no matter where he released his shot from, shooting a team high 62% overall from the field while going 2-for-3 from beyond the arch.

Pahrump Valley High School head coach Braydon Preston said coming into the game that strong defense throughout was going to be the make or break in ending the skid.

“I think overall, we’ve gotten much better as a team since we last faced SLAM. We’ve been playing high aggressive defense, and that’s what I emphasize highly of my program,” Preston said. “Defense comes first, and then the offense will come with it.”

Following two and a half minutes without a conversion, senior shooting guard Antwahn Jackson sunk a pair of free throws to get the Trojans on the board.

Coming off a strong defensive start, the Trojans offense were able to get the ball rolling, building a 22-14 lead with 2:48 to play in the second quarter, due in part to back-t0-back three’s by Sheppard and junior G/PG Alejandro Lozano.

But the Bulls were quickly able to claw their way back to within four, taking advantage of a few costly turnovers that resulted in SLAM only being down 25-21 at halftime.

“The guards did a great job attacking the rim today and we shared the ball really well. Great pick and rolls from the bigs. They really set us up really well tonight, and we knocked down our shots,” Lozano said. “We could have done a little bit better down the stretch in the end, without turning the ball over and making some of our free throws, but I think we executed really well overall tonight.”

Halftime Motivation

After dropping the previous rivalry matchup to SLAM at home on Dec. 11th 49-39, the message to the boys from coach Preston coming into the locker room at halftime was very clear: believe in yourself.

“When we went into the locker room and our coach came in, he rebooted us. He paid confidence in us. I mean, he made our bigs feel stronger. We went out there and we had faith and confidence in each other,” sophomore point guard Jack Toth said. “This was one of our first games that we really played as a team, so the intensity was there from everybody.”

Toth would go on to finish with a team second-best 9 points while also leading the team in rebounds with four defensive and one offensive rebound.

The Trojans in the third quarter maintained their five-point lead throughout until the Trojans picked up the offensive front with 4:16 left, outscoring SLAM 10-5 in that period.

Back-to-back buckets by Trojans junior guard Joshua Slusher to begin the fourth quarter would extend the Trojans’ lead to the biggest of the night (12) 43-31.

SLAM head coach Darius Clement furiously called for a timeout, nearly dropping his clipboard as he went out to construct a new defensive look for the Bulls.

The new scheme was evident as the Bulls entered a full-court press formation.

“We really just had a lot of guys rotating really fast. People weren’t sitting there stagnant. They’re actually moving off the ball, which is how we were able to get our passes off,” Lozano said. “You know, because when they come in and they fly and trap you like that, you can’t really put the ball on the floor so quick. So it helps when our teammates get there to the spot quick.”

The Trojans were able to kick out the ball and continuously get up past half court to run down the clock most of the fourth quarter.

“In the timeout, I told my team to just relax with the ball. Okay, we’re perfectly fine. We got 10 seconds to get it across half. Be strong with the ball. There’s no pressure bringing the ball up,” Preston said.

SLAM showed some late life at the end of the fourth quarter as they were able to cut down their eight point deficit to 51-49 from baskets by Jael Cousett with 2:25 to play. The Bulls freshman standout scored a new career-high in points with 21, shooting a team best eight for 10 from the field.

Lozano would send the well-traveled Trojan fans home happy after being sent to the line and sinking a pair of free-throws that iced the game.

“We’ve got to build off of this win. With a couple of big games with Sloan and Boulder our last two games, we’ve just got to finish our shots. And that’s our big thing this year,” Preston said. “The three-point game was a huge highlight for me. A couple of the boys that you saw really got it done behind the perimeter today.”

Contact Jacob Powers at jpowers@reviewjournal.com. Follow @jaypowers__ on X.