Pershing County is 2-8 against Battle Mountain since January of 2019 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Pershing County Mustangs will look to defend their home court against the Battle Mountain Longhorns at 7:30 p.m. Keep an eye on the score for this one: both teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.
Pershing County posted their biggest victory yet this season on Tuesday. They breezed by Coral Academy of Science - Reno on the road to the tune of 66-26. The victory was just what Pershing County needed coming off of a 55-32 defeat in their prior game.
Pershing County's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Trenton Rhodes, who scored 16 points, and Travis Donaldson, who scored 17 points.
Meanwhile, Battle Mountain came up short against Yerington on Saturday and fell 63-55. It was the first time this season that Battle Mountain let down their fans at home.
Despite the defeat, Battle Mountain saw an underclassman step up: Geovanni Ruvalcaba scored 14 points along with seven assists and five rebounds. Ruvalcaba is on a roll when it comes to steals, as he's now grabbed two or more in the last 12 games he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Zayne Hall, who scored seven points along with five rebounds and three steals.
Pershing County has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven games, which provided a nice bump to their 8-11 record this season. As for Battle Mountain, their loss ended a five-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 11-8.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: Pershing County have been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 23.6 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Battle Mountain struggles in that department as they've been averaging 25.4 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Pershing County was dealt a bruising 79-50 loss at the hands of Battle Mountain in their previous meeting back in December of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Battle Mountain's Blake Stuart, who scored 24 points along with five assists and three steals. Now that Pershing County knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
