Cheyenne proves to be too much for Eagles

The Eagles’ season ended Feb. 19 with a 70-60 loss to Cheyenne in the opening round of the Division 1-A Southern Region boys’ basketball playoffs.

Marcus Walker scored 12 of his 17 points in the second half to lead Boulder City’s late rally and twin brother Nicholas Walker added 10 points and six rebounds.

Tyler Newby finished with 14 points for the Eagles, who will lose eight seniors to graduation.

“I told my seniors how much I appreciated what they’ve done the last three years since I’ve been the coach here,” Boulder City head coach John Balistere said. “We won 46 games. It’s the most wins we’ve had in a three-year stretch in about 18 years, so they did a great job of helping bring our program back to respectability.”

The Eagles (10-14) played tough and stayed close until late in the fourth quarter in the loss at Sunrise Mountain. Cheyenne’s lead was in single digits until the last minute, but Cheyenne never trailed.

The Desert Shields took a 31-25 lead into halftime. Senior Javon Peterson led the way with 25 points, including an 8-for-8 effort from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter when the Eagles were mounting a comeback.

Boulder City tied the game twice in the second half and came within 64-60 with 36 seconds remaining in the game, but missed shots resulted in a 6-0 Cheyenne run to end the game.

“Their size caused some problems for us inside, and we knew that was our Achilles’ heel all year,” Balistere said. “We haven’t given up 70 points in many games this year. I know we were fouling at the end, but I thought they hurt us on the glass a little bit. Too many second-chance points.”