The Carson Senators boys basketball team shook off a first-half deficit and a slow start in the second half to defeat the Reed Raiders, 63-55, in a nonleague game Tuesday at Morse Burley Gymnasium.
Carson sophomore guard Brian Barnes scored a game-high 22 points and senior guard Kalvin Case and senior forward Uriel Duran each added 10 as the Senators improved to 4-1 as they prepared for their Sierra League opener against South Tahoe on Tuesday.
Reed, of the High Desert League, fell to 0-2.
Carson outscored Reed 20-12 in the fourth quarter to put the game away.
"We started to push the ball on the push-break and put our hands up better (in the fourth quarter)," said Case, who scored six of his points in the final eight minutes. "We boxed out better. We did all right tonight, but we have to do a lot better on our free throws. We also need a lot of work on our penetration."
Although the Raiders connected on a higher percentage from the charity stripe (11-of-13) than Carson (25-of-41), they became a victim of the Senators' passing game and were forced to commit more fouls after Carson took control with a 56-48 lead with 3 minutes, 39 seconds remaining in the game.
"We started to get some easy breaks and some big stops," said Barnes, who scored five fourth-quarter points. "Once we got past their pressure, we got some easy baskets. We picked up our pressure on defense a lot. Our offensive energy took their shooting percentage down and we were able to turn their turnovers into baskets."
The Senators forced 22 Reed turnovers, including 12 in the second half. The Raiders, who connected on 7-of-18 first-half shots, finished 19-of 48 overall and 5-of-12 in the fourth quarter.
Carson, which committed 14 turnovers, connected on 18-of-43 overall and 4-of-6 in the fourth quarter.
The Senators fell behind early and trailed by as many as 10 points " 26-16 with 5:15 remaining in the first half.
"For whatever reason, we didn't come out with a lot of energy," said Carson coach Bruce Barnes. "That's hard to figure because we knew what we were up against. We were fortunate enough to get tied at the half and things began to work."
Carson trailed 18-12 after the first eight minutes and Barnes helped cut into Reed's lead with a pair of driving layups " including a three-point play " to begin an 13-1 run, which included a 10-footer in traffic by senior Matt Rutledge to tie it up at 27-27 with 59 seconds to go in the half.
"I came out relaxed and tried not to be nervous," said the 6-foot Brian Barnes. "I played comfortably. I did whatever I could do to help us win."
Carson senior guard Steve Fowzer gathered up a rebound and drove in to give Carson its first lead of the half at 29-27 before Reed's D'marshae Vann converted a pair of free throws to tie it 29-all going into the half.
Vann scored a team-high 21 points for Reed, which also got 14 points from Michael Powell.
Carson and Reed combined for nine turnovers in just over three minutes to open the third. A Vann drive up the middle gave the Raiders their largest lead of the second half at 33-29.
Barnes converted a three-point play to tie it up at 37-37, and Michael Lowes drained a 17-footer to tie at 39 after Reed took its last lead at 39-37 on a basket by Harmon Bains.
The teams tied at 41, 43 and 45 before Carson went on a 11-0 run to take a 56-45 lead " its largest of the night " and began to play possession ball.
Paul Cagle III (eight points), Duran and junior Pat Smith (two points) combined to score 20 of the Senators points, as their guards did the rest.
"The strength of our team " just because of our experience " is in our guard play," Coach Barnes said. "Our post players are coming along, they're just not experienced. Our guard play is what we're relying on in the beginning of the season."
The core group of Barnes, Cagle, Rutledge, Duran, Smith, Case and Ian Gunn played a lot of summer ball together, something Coach Barnes said was key in their development for this season.
"I think we're learning a lot," Coach Barnes said. "The guys are starting to come together. We'll take 4-1 for today, but 4-1 isn't going to matter come Tuesday (against South Tahoe). We're going to be getting better prepared for Tuesday."
Tip-off for the Carson-South Tahoe game is slated for 7 p.m. at Morse Burley Gym.