Shades of 1998 for Valley High

Nick Christensen

Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2005 | 9:13 a.m.

The script was getting a little old for the Valley High boys' basketball team.

For two seasons, it played out more or less the same way -- have a great season, win 20 or so games, then lose in the Sunrise Region championship.

But the past two years, the Vikings have relied on the "maybe next year" defense. Not so in 2005, as the bulk of Valley's lineup is made of seniors.

"This year, there ain't no next year," Valley guard Josh Rivers said. "Me, the other players, we played with all our hearts. We didn't want to go home."

Valley held off an upstart Rancho team for a 63-59 victory in Friday's Sunrise championship, earning the school's first regional crown since the 1998 season. That team won the state championship.

There's no regret about the past two seasons in the Valley camp -- except from Rivers, who wished this year's tournament was in Reno instead of the Orleans Arena -- because, as Valley coach Tom Farnsworth said, the past two Valley teams had good seasons.

"They've been successful," he said. "They won 21 games last year, and they happened to lose in that game."

This year, Valley might be the team to beat in this week's state tournament. The Vikings haven't lost since December, coming out of a game Northeast Division with a 11-1 record.

"We won the Las Vegas (High tournament) championship, we got the momentum going into conference play and we haven't had a whole lot of close games," Farnsworth said. "We play smart basketball, we play with competitiveness, we make our free throws at the end."

Most importantly, the group has bonded as a team.

"We came together as a family," Rivers said. "We hang around each other all the time. We do everything together."

Guard Justin Everett said that bonding has made for clean, well-played basketball.

"We've been practicing pretty hard the last couple of months," Everett said. "We've been playing together for more than four years, we know what each other is capable of doing. We're playing up to our potential."

Farnsworth echoed his players' sentiments.

"They're pretty loose," he said. "They're enjoying themselves, practicing hard. The camaraderie and the chemistry -- they like being around each other."

Valley (28-4) plays Palo Verde (21-7) at 4:40 p.m. Thursday at the Orleans Arena.

He said that team was particularly remarkable considering how growth affected Valley's population. The opening of Green Valley High School in the early 1990s, and later Las Vegas High's move to Frenchman's Mountain, had left Valley's and Chaparral's zones in flux for quite some time.

"Back in those days, we had gone through so much conditioning because they had just built schools and shifted a lot ... it was just like taking torpedoes to the side of the ship, so to speak," he said. "We had some real good kids that we worked real hard with. We came up with this us-vs.-the-world mentality."

That team consisted of former Gonzaga forward Alex Hernandez, former Idaho State guard Dion Jackson and former CBA player Jamar Brown.

"We went three straight years to the state tournament, and finally we took the last step to getting it done with that group of kids," Aznarez said. "Sometimes it just seems to be your time and for those kids, I know it was a real special moment."

"At halftime we make it clear -- the game's not over," Gaels coach Grant Rice said. "Our kids are pumped up, I'm just not sure what the deal is. That third quarter was definitely a different story."

Palo Verde outscored Bishop Gorman 19-7 in the first eight minutes of Friday's second half.

Still, Rice is confident in his team and the experiences it's had so far this year.

"This schedule we played this year, it's the hardest schedule I've had since I've been here," he said. "I don't remember many teams playing as hard of a schedule as we've played. Going to California, up to Utah and Wyoming really, really prepared us for the playoffs and now hopefully for the state tournament."

Bishop Gorman (29-3) takes on Northern champion Galena (24-8) at 8 p.m. Thursday at the Orleans Arena.