The High Desert League standings could have been a mess, but we can all thank Reed for helping avoid all the weird tie-breakers by handing Elko a 58-49 defeat in the regular-season finale.

The Raiders already clinched a playoff spot Friday night, but a loss Saturday against the Indians would have dropped the east Sparks school into fourth place behind Spanish Springs. The Cougars earned its first postseason appearance in school history thanks to Manogue's win over Fallon Saturday.

Now, Reed will have to prepare for a trip to Minden after three of its eight seniors finished in double digits on Senior Night and held off a late Elko charge.

Cory Whitaker led the Raiders with 16 points, while Nick Dixon and Travis Petersen poured in 15 and 12 points respectively.

However, it wasn't pretty for the Blue and Gold.

"It's been an emotional week for us. It didn't really look like we were emotionally charged," Reed coach Paul Gray said.

After jumping out to a 34-27 lead at the break, the offense slowed down for Reed. Still, the Raiders pushed the gap to 47-35 after three quarters of play.

But the start of the fourth quarter was delayed nearly 10 minutes when Ryan Nelson left his own mark on the game. The Reed senior left a blood trail all around the court and even on the basketball due to a bloody nose.

The delay seemed to affect the home team more as the Indians cut the deficit to 49-42 with 6:25 to play in the game.

The Raiders went almost five minutes without scoring, but Whitaker increased the lead back up to 10, 52-42, with 2:33 on the clock.

Elko was not done though. With one minute remaining, it was a 53-49 game following a Stephen Klekas free throw. Klekas finished with a game-high 17 points.

That's as good as it got for the Eastern Nevada school, which saw its comeback come up short due to untimely turnovers and five Raider foul shots in the final minute.

"For them it's their final game. It's their chance to knock off a team that's going to the playoffs," Gray said of Elko's late push. "(Coach) Chris Klekas had them ready to play. We weren't where we were last night or Tuesday night. But we were good enough to get a win, and that's all that matters at this point."

As the third seed, Reed will have to travel to Douglas Tuesday, while Spanish Springs only has to go to Reno. Both games are set for a 7 p.m tip-off.