Las Vegas boys roll past Rancho

Spencer Patterson

Thursday, Jan. 20, 2000 | 10:05 a.m.

The Las Vegas Wildcats are tired of hearing about the superiority of boys basketball on the west side of town.

With Southwest Division clubs Bishop Gorman, Western and Durango holding down the state's top three rankings, much of the attention this season has gone to the Sunset Region.

But rather quietly, the Wildcats have been one of Southern Nevada's most consistent squads. On Wednesday night, they earned their area-best 17th victory -- a relatively easy 49-35 conference win at Rancho.

"I'm not buying that Sunset stuff anymore," said Las Vegas coach Bob Beskow, whose club improved to 17-5, 3-0 Northeast. "We have some good teams on our side, and we've done well against the elite Sunset teams we've played."

Despite the Rams' best efforts to slow the pace of the game, the Wildcats began running away from their opponents in the second quarter. Senior guard T.J. Valera scored 12 of his game-high 21 points before halftime, as the visitors built a 24-14 lead at the break.

From there, senior forward Tremmell Darden took over. The area's leading scorer dominated the paint down the stretch, finishing with 17 points and nine rebounds.

Darden's high-flying dunk with three minutes remaining in the third quarter paved the way for an 8-2 Wildcats run that all but squashed the Rams' hopes.

"He just plays hard all the time," Beskow said. "They were playing pretty physical against him and the refs were letting the kids play, but he adjusted to it. He did a real good job in the second half."

Rancho (6-7, 1-2), meanwhile, did little right in the contest. The Rams set the tone for a miserable shooting night by missing six of their first seven shots from the field.

Senior forward Rod Lukes, the hosts' leading scorer, contributed three highlight-reel dunks in the first half, but managed just one other bucket in the contest, finishing with eight points to lead the Rams.

Las Vegas will now turn its attention to the Sunrise Region's other top-five team, No. 5 Valley. The Wildcats will host the Vikings (10-5, 2-0) Friday at 7 p.m., with first place in the Northeast Division on the line.

"It's been Valley and Vegas battling it out for years," Beskow said. "I don't expect anything else Friday night."