Chad Lundquist/Nevada Appeal Zach Weismann, #22, lays-up the game winning point in the final seconds of the game against Douglas's #24 Matt Rutledge, on Tuesday night.
Forget about March Madness. A January 17 game between the Carson and Douglas boys basketball teams can supply all the pandemonium any fan could want.
After Douglas' Kevin Emm missed a shot as time ran out, Carson High School students rushed the floor and mobbed the Senators, who took a dramatic 43-42 win over the Tigers in a Sierra League matchup Tuesday at Morse Burley Gym.
Douglas' 6-10 center Keith Olson's bucket put the Tigers up 42-39 with just over 30 seconds remaining in the game, but the Senators began what would amount to their game-winning rally.
After Carson senior guard Adam Houghton, who scored a team-high 13 points for the Senators, whittled the lead to one with his shot with 24.5 seconds, Douglas' Nathan Laird missed both free throws after being fouled.
With the clock winding down Carson junior guard Zach Weismann made an aggressive move to the basket pay off with a layup to give the Senators their 43-42 lead with 1.7 seconds to go, but after Douglas called a timeout 1.7 more seconds were put back on the clock.
The ball was inbounded to Olson, but the Senators' Kevin Brush tipped it away. The ball bounced into the hands of the Tigers' Jordan Hadlock, who then passed it to Emm for his desperation shot, which bounced around the rim before falling to the floor and prompting the crowd to swarm the Senators.
"It was a pretty typical Carson-Douglas match," Senators coach Bruce Barnes said. "It doesn't matter who's the better team, it always comes down to the end."
Douglas coach Rob Streeter said it was a fun game in spite of the loss.
"Give Carson credit for not folding," Streeter said. "Their kids responded."
Weismann said he was quite aware of the clock working against him when he made his move to the hoop.
"I felt the pressure," said Weismann, who finished with eight points. "I knew I had to take it up strong. I knew going up I was going to get fouled or it was going in."
The Senators had problems all night containing Olson, who had a game-high 20 points, but that didn't stop the 6-foot-1 Brush from giving it one more try at the end of the game.
"I got just enough of (the ball) so that they didn't get off their best shot," said Brush, who finished with nine points. "(Olson's) big. That's what we were doing in practice: doubling down on the big guys."
The Senators shut out Olson in the first quarter and Houghton and Steve Mandoki combined for 10 of Carson's first-quarter points and they led 12-4 going into the second.
Olson caught fire in the second, scoring eight points, and Douglas took a 19-17 lead into the locker room at halftime.
With the game tied 25-25 heading into the final quarter, both teams pulled out all the stops. Douglas got off first and went on a 12-5 run to give it its largest lead at 37-30, before Carson's Jake Jeffers and Weismann combined for five points to draw the Senators within two.
"(Douglas) was throwing it to the high post, so we had to take it away," Weismann said of the Senators' late defensive clampdown. "We were feeding off of our last game with Wooster (an 89-41 Carson win Friday). We just wanted to bring (the energy) to this game."
"Energy" was the key word buzzing around after the game.
"Against Damonte Ranch (a 54-42 loss) we didn't have enough energy," Brush said. "That's one thing we're working on - how to get up for a game."
"(The win) gives the guys confidence," Barnes said. "We played well against Wooster. Now we have momentum. It was a big week - a good one for our kids."
Carson improved to 8-9 overall and 2-2 in the Sierra League. With the loss, Douglas fell to 7-10, 2-2.
"We proved we can play with a tall team," Barnes said. "We have to deal with it (height) against Douglas, (South) Tahoe and Reno. We have the idea and the tape to watch what we did correctly and see what we need to work on."
Carson travels to North Valleys for its next game. It will begin at 7 p.m.