Quite simply, it was Carson High's best defensive effort, and it led to an overwhelming victory.
The Senators held Damonte Ranch to a 33 percent effort from the field and forced the Mustangs into 21 turnovers en route to a 50-29 win in the opening round of the 28th annual Capitol Classic Basketball Tournament at Carson High Tuesday night.
The win puts the Senators into the semifinals against Paradise tonight at 7:15 p.m.
"I thought we played well on defense," Carson coach Bruce Barnes said. "Our second group played very hard. It was the best game we've had 1 through 12 in terms of defense.
"I really didn't know anything about them. We've been concentrating on ourselves. We need to get a lot better."
At both ends of the floor. Carson took better care of the ball than in recent games, turning it over only 10 times. The Senators shot 42 percent from the field.
Carson took an early 10-point lead in the first quarter, 12-2, behind two buckets apiece by Brian Welch (12 points) and Kyle Bacon. Damonte cut the lead to five and seven points during the early stages of the second quarter, but Carson fought back in the final 1:26 of the half to get the lead back up to double-digits at 24-13.
A 10-2 run in the first 4 1/2 minutes of the half boosted Carson's lead to 34-15. Jake Jeffers started the surge with a free throw, but then Welch worked hard and scored on back-to-back putbacks. He was fouled on the second one, and he drained the free throw to make it 30-13 with 6:24 left.
"He (Welch) leads by example," Barnes said. "He is as competitive as they come, and he gives you great effort."
Adam Houghton had a bucket and two free throws to get the lead to 19. The quarter ended with Carson enjoying a 36-19 edge.
The pace of the game slowed down significantly from the middle of the third period into the fourth, as Damonte Ranch stayed in a zone defense, and Barnes instructed his squad to hold the ball in hopes of getting the Mustangs to come out of the zone. And, Carson was as patient as it has been all season.
John Gradert scored five points in a quarter-opening 7-1 run to boost the Carson lead to 43-20. After a three-pointer by Andre Shaw, Carson went on another 7-1 run to make it 50-24 with 1:06 to play.
"We wanted to see if we could get them out of the zone," Barnes said. "He wanted to stay in. Maybe it was something he needed to work on."
While this was an easy one, Barnes knows his team will have its hands full against Paradise.
"They have three very good guards," Barnes said. "The Maehl brothers are as athletic as there is in the tourney. We'll have to mix up defenses. They like to penetrate. We'll give them a step because other than Tilor (Smith) we don't have anybody quick enough to stay with them."
REED 55, DAYTON 35
Playing their second game of the day, the Dust Devils were no match for the Raiders, who outscored them 37-18 in the middle two quarters to grab a decisive win.
"We played hard," Dayton coach Rob Streeter said. "We showed some very tired legs toward the end. Their athleticism just wore us down."
Reed built a double-digit lead, 17-7, after 10 minutes of play. Dayton actually cut the lead to 36-27 with 3:17 left in the third quarter, as Trent Wood hit two layups to key a 10-2 run. That's when the game got away from Dayton, as Reed ran off 11 straight points thanks to two buckets by Kevin Berry (14 points), including a slam dunk, and a three-pointer by Sean Sims for a 47-27 lead.
The Raiders opened the fourth quarter with an 8-2 run, converting twice off Dayton mistakes.
"You've got to credit Reed," Streeter said. "They are very good."
Freshman Nick Dixon scored 11 for the Raiders and Brad Peterson added 10. Josh Aaker led Dayton with nine followed by Trent Wood with eight.
ARCHBISHOP ALTER 46, McQUEEN 41
In what had to be the most bizarre opening game, McQueen, 3-5, was held scoreless in the first quarter yet almost pulled off a come-from-behind win over the 3-4 Knights.
The Knights led by 13 in the first half, only to see the Lancers battle back to take a 39-38 lead on Calen Evans' free throw with 2:45 left in the game.
That's when the game started to turn in the Knights favor, and a technical foul played a big role in their victory.
McQueen turned the ball over with 1:22 left, and the Knights were patiently looking for a good shot. Matt Morgan threw up an airball and an alert teammate threw the ball back into Morgan, who was fouled by Peter Newell. Evans apparently said something to the officials about the call, and was hit with a technical. Morgan converted three of the four free throws to give the Knights a 41-39 lead with 50 seconds left.
McQueen took a foul on the inbounds pass and Matt Krystofik missed both foul shots. McQueen turned the ball over and was forced to foul again. Chris Coles knocked in two free throws for a 43-39 lead with 27 seconds left. After another McQueen misfire, Andy Dorow hit one of two foul shots with 18 seconds remaining. McQueen scored with four seconds left, but Morgan hit two more free throws a second later to end the scoring.
All told, Archbishop Alter knocked in eight of 12 foul shots in the final 50 seconds.
Dorow led Alter with 15 points and six rebounds.
PARADISE 61, SPRING CREEK 47
Colin Peterson, Jeff Maehl and Michael Maehl all scored 14 points to lead the Bobcats to an easy victory over Spring Creek.
Paradise took control of the contest early, outscoring Spring Creek 14-5 in the first quarter. Jamie McCloskey and the Maehls scored four points apiece to lead the way. Michael Maehl tacked on 10 second quarter points, as Paradise outscored Spring Creek 21-17, increasing its lead to 31-22. The teams played on even terms the second half.
McCloskey added 10 for Paradise, and football star James Edwards led Spring Creek with 11. David Neumann was next with eight points.
NON-TOURNAMENT
DAYTON 59, CENTRAL VALLEY 47
The game was almost a carbon copy of Saturday's game at Spanish Springs, but with a different ending for the Dust Devils.
"This time we got a couple of stops in the fourth quarter when we needed them," Streeter said. "We executed from our offensive sets. We kept the 10-point lead, and we did it without our seniors, who were in foul trouble."
Danny Hopper and Shane Castro led the Dust Devils with 10 points apiece, and Josh Aaker added nine. Kenny Goss was next with seven.
Andrew Snyder and Brandon Pero led Central Valley with eight points apiece.
CARSON FRESHMEN 63, WOOSTER 25
Carson improved to 2-0 in the State Farm Classic and will play McQueen at 2:30 p.m. today at Billinghurst Middle School. Will Holbert scored 14 points, Mitch Brantingham had 13 points, Hunter Santillo and Chris McBroom had six points, Markus Adams and Caleb Carter each had six points, Zach Rispin, Drew Good and David Eller all had four points and Jordan Nash added two points.
Contact Darrell Moody at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1281.