January 31, 2008
PVHS Boys Shut Down Mountain View

Photo by Dave Maxwell Brady Whipple goes up for a shot against Mountain View with Jared Wadsworth underneath.

By Dave Maxwell, Staff Writer

Mountain View Christian led 20-15 at the end of the first quarter, but the Panthers turned up the defense and the Saints got only 15 points the remainder of the game as Alamo cruised to a 52-35 win January 26. That avenged a 59-56 loss to MVHS two weeks earlier.

Brady Whipple scored a game high 24 points and Jared Wadsworth put such a defensive blanket on the Saint’s Freshman Justin Anderson, he managed only seven points. In the game at Alamo, Anderson had burned the Panthers with 27 points. “That’s the difference in the game,” said Coach Brian Higbee. “I told Jared defend him just as hard when he doesn’t have the ball, as when he does have it. I think the kid got worn down and tired. Jared plays linebacker when he’s defending somebody. He was all over him all the time.”

Mountain View (10-13) tried to slow the game down and work the ball in and out, trying to break the Panther zone. Higbee said he thought the slow down tactic was because, “I think they know we can outrun them. Match-up wise and physically, we’re just a little quicker than they are up and down the floor. I had an idea that’s what they were going to try to do to us.” However, the slow down game worked against the Saints, because when the shot was there, it was most often missed. “They sure ran a lot of clock off,” Higbee said. “As long as we had the lead, it was to our benefit.” Mountain View only scored 10 points the entire second half. Meantime, Higbee said he told the Panthers to be more aggressive, “Make them defend us, foul us,” he said.

Ken Turley had 8 rebounds and Whipple 7 rebounds. Brandon Carr was the leading scorer for Mountain View with 14 points.

Alamo (15-5) plays an all-important game at Trinity (14-7) this Friday, because the winner will most likely be the #2 seed into the Regional tournament. Alamo plays at Laughlin on Saturday while Trinity hosts Mountain View. Trinity beat the Saints 75-29 in their first meeting. The advantage of being #2 seed in Regionals is not having to play Lake Mead until the finals, where both teams will advance to state.