BRAD HORN/Nevada Appeal Carson's Zach Weismann battles a Laguna Creek player for the ball during the second half at Douglas on Thursday.
MINDEN - Simply put, it was about as bad as an opening game can get.
Carson High turned the ball over 19 times, shot 26 percent from the floor and was outrebounded 30-18 in a 48-26 loss to Laguna Creek in the first round of the 6th annual Carson Valley Classic at Douglas High School.
Carson returns to action today at 3 p.m. against Reed. The Raiders blew a 14-point fourth-quarter lead to defending champion Faith Lutheran, 70-69.
"Offensively that's as bad as I've seen it ever," Carson coach Bruce Barnes said. "It might be an all-time low. We missed shots. We had open shots, and it carried over to the free-throw line. I understand first-game jitters, but this was beyond that.
"When you give up only 48 points, you figure it's going to be a close game, and you win most of the time."
In past years, that might have been true because Carson fielded more of a veteran team that could put points on the board. This is a young team with a combined 11 sophomores and juniors on the 13-man squad.
Some of the credit has to go to Laguna Creek, which won the tournament two years ago. Its quickness caused some problems for the young Senators.
"The thing we do the best is defend in the half court," Laguna Creek coach Jim Stephens said. "We're not satisfied if we give up a shot inside the 3-point line.
"This won't be good enough to beat Faith Lutheran. We've had problems here on Thursdays. I don't know if it's the altitude or the drive up. We never play well, but we survive."
There were moments when just a little offense would have enabled Carson to get back in the game.
The Senators put their best run together late in the first half when a putback by Rob Valerius, a short bank shot and a layup by Will Holbert cut Laguna Creek's lead to 19-13 with 2:32 left in the first half.
Over the next 4 1/2 minutes, the Cardinals went on a 10-0 run to get the lead to 29-13, as the Senators turned the ball over five times and missed the front end of a one-and-one situation twice.
"We tried to up the tempo to start the second half," said Stephens, who said that the pressure wasn't intended to steal the ball in the backcourt.
Carson went on a 5-0 run over a three-minute stretch, spanning the final two minutes of the third quarter and the first minute of the fourth quarter to get the deficit back to single digits, 33-24. Weismann scored a basket and Valerius added a bucket and free throw.
Unfortunately, the Senators scored only one more basket the rest of the way, falling victim to a 15-2 game-ending run. Leatham scored the Senators' final basket with about three minutes left in the contest.
Valerius led Carson with seven points and five rebounds. L.T. Thomas, the Cardinals' top returning player, scored 11 points and Amar Singh added 10. Chris Ayo finished with nine points.