4A boys roundup: Legacy falls short of state final; Clark to play for title

SPARKS — The Legacy Longhorns fell in a quick double-digit deficit and never recovered.

Bishop Manogue ripped off 12 straight points in the opening five minutes and used the early momentum to dispatch Legacy 74-51 in a Nevada 4A Boys State Tournament semifinal Friday night at Spanish Springs High School.

Bishop Manogue advanced to Saturday’s final at 2 p.m. and will meet Clark at Spanish Springs.

Despite falling in the quick hole, Legacy did stop the initial bleeding. The Longhorns found some offensive rhythm in the last 10 minutes of the first half and trailed by only four at the break, 35-31.

However Legacy, the North Las Vegas school, failed to get any closer. Manogue, the private Catholic school in Reno, scored six of the first eight points after the intermission.

Legacy was still within striking distance, down eight at the two-minute mark of the third period. From there, Manogue ran away. The North champions put together a 12-2 spurt capped by an alley-oop dunk from their 6-foot 9-inch senior center Connor Sheridan.

“We just couldn’t score in the second half,” Legacy coach Colin Darfour said. “We struggled to put the ball in the hole. And my hat’s off to Bishop Manogue. They withstood our pressure and made it hard on us to score.

“And to be honest, it’s one thing to see their length on film and it’s another to play against it.”

The key outburst left Legacy down 60-44 with 6:19 remaining in the tourney tilt. Legacy’s Micah Cazar stopped the run with a 3-pointer, but that did not faze the Miners. Legacy managed just one bucket over the next four-plus minutes while Manogue blew the game open, taking its largest lead at 74-49 after a pair of Kade Snyder free throws with just under two minutes to go.

Snyder, a 6-7 senior wing who has committed to play for UNR, led all scorers with 22 points. Liam Sorensen chipped in 18 for Manogue (26-2).

“They did a good job scouting us and they did a good job using their length to deter us,” Darfour said. “We defended as good as we could have. Bishop Manogue is a really good basketball team.”

Grayson Williams, Cazar and Zaden Jeffries contributed 13, 11 and 10 points respectively in a losing cause for Legacy.

The Longhorns got better as the season went on. They won 16 in a row prior to last week’s loss to Clark in the 4A South final and finished its season at 23-9.

“We had an amazing year,” Darfour said. “Our kids overachieved and we’ve got a lot of guys coming back. Everything is in place for us to have a great season again next year.”

Clark holds off Reno

The South champs outlasted a relentless effort from the North’s No. 2 seed to win 51-48.

Clark led 50-48 as a potential game-tying layup for Reno rimmed out with the final seconds ticking away. Clark’s Sir Montgomery made one of two free throws with a second left, accounting for the final score, and the Chargers held on for the semifinal triumph.

Clark (21-5) took control late in the third period. The Chargers trailed 41-38 after a 10-0 Reno run left 1:15 on the third-quarter clock.

The Chargers defense tightened from there. Reno managed one field goal over the next six minutes and by then Clark had forged a 48-43 lead. The Chargers didn’t trail again.

Clark coach Brent Rothman said his team finally getting consistent stops was the story of the game.

“More than anything, I think we just settled down,” Rothman said. “Early on, we tried to speed them up, but they scouted us well.

“I told our guys we had to stop gambling and just play solid D. We settled in and got the win.”

CJ Edwards led Clark with 16 while Devan Christion and Drake Afe chipped in 14 and 12 respectively.