Steve Ranson • LVN photo Carson's Caleb Carter goes up for a shot against Fallon Tuesday night with Fallon's Russell Smith guarding.
FALLON - A sizzling first quarter gave Carson all the momentum the Senators needed Tuesday to down Fallon, 46-26, in a nonleague varsity boys' basketball game at Elmo Dericco Gym.
The Senators (3-1) blistered the nets in the opening quarter, sinking the first six shot attempts and then cruising to a 24-4 first-period lead.
Caleb Carter, Carson's 6-foot-2 guard, drove the Greenwave defense mad with five 3-pointers. He led all scorers with 16 points.
Carter said the Senators were primarily working on its transition game, which gave him many open shots.
"The first quarter, we ran on the fastbreak," the Carson senior explained. "We started running our offense in the second quarter."
Although he had several open looks, Carter's shots bounced off the rim.
The Greenwave (1-3) experienced a letdown on both ends of the court in the first quarter.
"When a team puts a run on, we can't hurry (our shots)," said Fallon coach Corey Williams, "We never got into a flow offensively."
After the first quarter, the Senators' offense cooled, scoring 22 points for the rest of the game. As far as Williams was concerned, the 20-point lead was hard for Fallon to overcome.
"The lead ballooned on us," he said. "We're not good enough to attempt the first shot we see."
Williams said he was concerned because his team was what he called "dead quiet."
"They didn't come mentally prepared to play," he said. "We were our own worst enemy by not being patient."
The Senators rebounded well in the first half and limited Fallon to no more than two shots. Carson's quickness on the transition game caught Fallon flat-footed in the first half.
"We've been shooting the ball pretty well from the perimeter," Carson coach Bruce Barnes said. "Once they (Fallon) got going, they played us evenly."
Barnes said he wasn't surprised Fallon shut down Carter after the first quarter. The Carson senior was held scoreless until he sank a free throw late in the third quarter.
"Carter's a shooter, but once they found him after that, they did a better job on him offensively," Barnes said.
Both teams scores six points in the second quarter. Carson worked the inside for two easy baskets, one each from Paul Cagle and David Eller, while Fallon relied on Billy Sorensen's 10-foot jump shot, Anthony Tisdale's putback layup and Alex Rodriguez's two free throws. Sorensen led Fallon with 12 points.
The Senators outsscored Fallon, 12-7, in the third quarter. Cagle accounted for two easy shots under the basket, while Rob Valerious made a left-handed hook shot and a layup.
Fallon guard Garrett Adams closed out the quarter with a fastbreak layup and a 3-pointer by the Fallon bench.
The Wave outscored Carson, 9-4, in the final quarter. Adams drilled a long shot just inside the 3-point line to finish with seven points, and Sorensen scored two baskets.
Matt Rutledge and Steve Fowzer each scored two points for the Senators.