Small-town Pyramid Lake plays big-time basketball

Jeff Neubert

Thursday, Feb. 24, 2005 | 9:20 a.m.

With only 100 students, Pyramid Lake High School will get its shot in the Nevada state basketball playoffs in Las Vegas this weekend.

The 1A school from Nixon, which is about 40 miles east of Reno, made the trip to Las Vegas today. Pyramid Lake brings both boys' and girls' teams here, one of four schools hoping for the basketball sweep this year.

Pyramid Lake will be the smallest school competing at the state playoffs, with 23 of the school's 100 students playing in this week's tournament.

Lakers boys' coach Randy Melendez, who is also the school's principal and athletic director, said the trip will provide a unique experience for his students.

"The kids are looking forward to making the trip to Las Vegas," Melendez said. "They have been talking about it and they are excited."

The Lakers bring 12 girls for the tournament, and their 11 boys are here to defend their 2004 state title, the fifth title in school history.

But they'll have to do it under new circumstances.

Pyramid Lake will have to play in an environment that it is not used to. For some of the kids, it will be their first trip to Las Vegas.

"You get comfortable being so close to home," Melendez said of past tournaments, held at Reno's Lawlor Events Center.

"It's tough to play them at their home court," said Lake Mead Christian Academy coach Jeff Newton, whose charges lost the championship game to Pyramid Lake last year and face the Lakers in the first round at 8 p.m. Friday at Del Sol High. "You go to a stadium with 3,000 to 3,500 seats and they fill two-thirds of it."

They will have to play without most of their homecourt advantage, as Melendez doubts many fans will be able to make it to Las Vegas.

But the fans are the reason it was even possible to make the trip, Melendez said. The Lakers earned their travel money through their home ticket sales this season.

Since they are not going to have a baseball or softball season this year, it was easier to afford the trip, according to Melendez.

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