Carson High's boys' basketball team played pretty well for 28 minutes. Unfortuntaely for the Senators, games are 32 minutes.
Carson blew an 11-point third quarter lead en route to a 49-46 loss to Arhbishop Alter in the third-place game at the 28th annual Capitol Classic Thursday night at Morse Burley Gymnasium.
Carson coach Bruce Barnes, whose team dropped to 4-8 heading into the Las Vegas Classic, was disappointed at the loss.
"For the most part I thought we played a very good game," he said. "There was a four-minute stretch in the third quarter that we had a meltdown. I think we turned the ball over five straight times. Their pressure got to us a little bit."
Barnes was referring to Archbishop Alter's 1-3-1 trapping zone press. The five straight errors, nine total in the quarter, helped pave the way for a 14-0 run and a 31-30 lead after three quarters, wiping out a 28-17 lead and Carson's dominance over the first 18 minutes.
Carson did lead in the game three times after that, but clearly the momentum belonged to Archbishop Alter the rest of the way.
"We used it against Reed," Alter coach Joe Petrocelli said. "It's so hard to play it for an extended period of time because you're moving and chasing all the time."
Shane Connor, an all-tournament selection, and sophomore J.J. Lauman knocked down three-pointers to start the surge. Matt Morgan, Lauman, Danny Bruner and Matt Morgan all scored off Carson mistakes in the run that lasted nearly 5 1/2 minutes.
"We've seen it (the trap) a couple of times this year," Barnes said. "We've seen it, we just didn't handle it. We were waiting for the trap before looking for the trap instead of seeing it coming and getting rid of the ball."
Carson rebounded briefly with a nice 7-0 run to take a 37-31 lead with 5:51 left in the game thanks to layups by Tilor Smith and Kyle Bacon plus a three by Murph Gardner. However, Alter fought back with a 12-4 run for a 43-41 lead, as all-tourney selection Andy Dorow had a tip-in and two foul shots and Danny Bruner added two buckets.
Two of the scores came off turnovers, including a nice steal by A.J. Savino. A free throw by Steve Mandoki and two by Brice Crook gave Carson the lead, again, 44-43, with 2:25 left. Savino's two foul shots enabled Alter to regain the lead 45-44. Crook hit two more from the line to give Carson a 46-45 lead with 1:11 left.
Dorow gave Alter the lead for good when he hit from the left side with 56 seconds left. Kyle Bacon misfired from 20 on Carson's next possession, and Carson quickly fouled Dorow, who hit one of two to make it 48-46 with 18 seconds left. Carson turned the ball over when Adam Houghton was called for an offensive foul with four seconds left. Dorow hit another free throw to complete the scoring.
"We had some good looks (at the end)," Barnes said. "They are solid; very fundamental. They also made free throws down the stretch and we missed a couple.
"We competed tonight, and that's one thing we needed to do. We got back to doing the things that will help us win ballgames."
Brian Welch led Carson with 10 points, all in the first half. Unofficially, he failed to get up a shot in the second half.
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Reed 83, Paradise 68
The Raiders improved to 13-1 thanks to a 54-point barrage in the middle two periods. The Raiders were just too deep for Paradise, which relied almost entirely on Michael Maehl (21 points) and Jeff Maehl (31 points).
"We played well offensively tonight," Reed coach Paul Gray said. "Anytime you win a tournament, and this is a quality tournament, you feel good about that.
"I don't want this to sound bad, but I think we can get better. We lost four starters from last year, and we have a lot of new faces. As a team, we're still jelling."
Brad Peterson scored 10 of his 16 and MVP Kevin Berry added seven of his team-high 24 as the Raiders outscored the Bobcats 28-16 in the second quarter to take a 42-27 halftime lead.
Reed tacked on 26 more in the third quarter, increasing the bulge to 18. The Bobcats cut the lead to 11 late in the third quarter thanks to nine points by Jeff Maehl, but six straight points in the final 59 seconds boosted the lead to 68-50 after three.
Andrew Jones was the third Reed player in double figures with 10.
CONSOLATION
McQueen 50, Spring Creek 49
Sean Davies scored 22 and Peter Newell added 11, as the Lancers held off Spring Creek.
Newell had nine of his points in the second half, accounting for 33 percent of the Lancers' offense in the final 16 minutes.
Bryan Reinschmidt knocked down four treys to lead the Spartans with 12 points. Colby Satterthwaite added 10, including a three-pointer.
SEVENTH PLACE
Damonte Ranch 52, Dayton 47
Damonte Ranch outscored Dayton 12-5 in the final quarter to grab its only victory of the tournament.
Chris Carlson, a transfer from Douglas High, led the Mustangs with 13 and point guard Andre Shaw added 12.
Shane Castro led Dayton with 16, connecting on three three-pointers. Trent Wood and Kenny Goss added eight apiece.
Contact Darrell Moody at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1281.