Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

Austin Nelson leads Coronado in rout over rival Basic

2010-2011 Boys Prep Basketball - Coronado Outtakes

Sam Morris / Las Vegas Sun

Coronado basketball players Michael Louder, Austin Nelson and Adam Schmitt.

Prep Sports Now

Discussing divisions at the start of league play

Las Vegas Sun reporters Ray Brewer and Case Keefer take a look around Las Vegas high school basketball by talking about each of the four divisions. They also break down their early impressions of the area's top programs, Bishop Gorman and Canyon Springs.

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Coronado started Southeast division play with a statement victory Tuesday night against Basic.

The Cougars blew out their Henderson rivals 87-53.

“We had one goal in mind — To send a message that you don’t want to come to our gym,” Coronado coach Jeff Kaufman said. “We played with a lot of intensity the whole way.”

As usual, team captains Austin Nelson and Adam Schmitt led the way. Nelson scored 25 points with 10 assists and four steals. Schmitt had 10 points, nine rebounds and four blocks.

Junior Michael Louder added 11 points, nine rebounds and four blocks. All three were instrumental in a 34-14 second quarter that blew the game open.

“We just pulled away after that,” Kaufman said.

The first quarter was closely contested and the Wolves actually led 16-15 at one point.

The victory ends a two-game losing streak for Coronado, which went 2-2 in non-league play. Its losses came to Valley and Sierra Vista, two of the better teams in the area.

“We purposely scheduled those teams,” Kaufman said. “We wanted to play teams that were physical and athletic. We learned we had to take care of the basketball and we did that tonight.”

Coronado travels to Liberty Thursday for a marquee early season division game.

“Liberty always plays us tough,” Kaufman said. “We’ve always had great games. We’re going to show p and play as hard as we can.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.

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