Basketball Recap: North Valleys Skates Past Sparks with Ease

Panthers

Margin (Wins)

12/19/24 @ Excel Christian	53
01/10/25 vs Sparks	48
12/12/24 @ Mammoth	41
01/24/25 @ Sparks	35
12/03/24 vs Sage Ridge	34
12/13/24 vs Pyramid Lake	25

North Valleys won the last time they faced Sparks and things went their way on Friday too. The North Valleys Panthers took their matchup with ease, bagging a 63-28 victory over the Sparks Railroaders. The Panthers have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won six contests by 25 points or more this season.

Joshua Collins was his usual excellent self, going 9 of 15 on his way to 20 points and five assists. Marcus Vasquez also deserves some recognition as he pulled down his first rebounds of the season.

They weren't the only one working in the assists department: North Valleys was working as a unit and finished the game with 12 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Sparks only posted three assists.

Sparks' defeat came despite a true team effort from the offense, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Eli Flores, who posted 13 points. That was a full 46.4% of Sparks' points, marking the third time in a row he's had more than a third of the team's points. Joshua Castillo-Rodriguez was another key player, putting up five points.

The win made it two in a row for North Valleys and bumps their season record up to 12-4. As for Sparks, they dropped their record down to 2-18 with the loss, which was their seventh straight at home.

Both squads will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. North Valleys will head out to face off against Fernley at 7:30 p.m. on Monday. North Valleys is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 60.4 points per game this season. As for Sparks, they will square off against Truckee at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Sparks is facing Truckee at the right time seeing as Truckee is stuck on a five-game losing streak.