It was so easy Carson High School's boys basketball team barely broke a sweat in its Sierra League opener.
The Senators scored the game's first 13 points and forced South Tahoe into a whopping 36 turnovers en route to a 56-38 win Tuesday night at Morse Burley Gym.
The win gives Carson a 5-1 overall record heading into the four-day St. Andrew's Invitational, in Boca Raton, Florida. The Senators open play Friday at 4:30 p.m. against the host school.
"It's all we've been talking about since the first day of practice," Carson coach Bruce Barnes said. "We wanted to win the game heading into Christmas vacation. It's good to be 5-1, but it's better to be 1-0.
"I think we played hard. We turned the ball over too much and that can't happen in a close game. When the score got like that, I thought we started to play a little sloppy."
Sloppy doesn't even begin to describe South Tahoe's first-half performance.
South Tahoe turned the ball over nine times in the opening quarter and went 1-for-9
from the field. The Vikings didn't score until the final 10 seconds of the opening
quarter, when Kyle Dupree buried a 3-pointer.
By that time, Carson had bolted to a 13-0 lead thanks to seven points by Matt Rutledge, including a nice three-point play on a drive to the basket. Brian Barnes, Michael Lowes and Ean Witter added a basket apiece.
"Matt is a strong shooter," Barnes said. "People tend to leave him alone because he doesn't shoot much. He's more than capable."
Carson's full-court pressure and trapping press continued to cause problems for the Vikings in the second quarter. In its first five trips down the court, South Tahoe turned the ball over four times and went 0-for-2 on its other possession. All told, the Vikings turned the ball over 17 times in the period.
"We thought we could do that," Barnes said. "We played in their tournament and noticed they had a little trouble handling the ball out front.
"This wasn't the same group that started. (South Tahoe guard) Chris Klug does fine, but they didn't have Dupree out there at the start to help and I think he's their best player. We did a little more running and jumping than we normally do."
Carson had two big surges in the second quarter.
Brian Barnes led a 12-0 surge to start the quarter, scoring on a three-point play and two foul shots. Paul Cagle cashed in on a three-point play, his only points of the game. Lowes ended the surge with a bucket to make it 25-3 with 3 minutes, 57 seconds remaining.
South Tahoe went on a 5-0 run to make it 25-8, but Carson scored eight straight points for a 33-8 halftime lead.
That was the game. South Tahoe, despite 15 second-half points by David Vallejo, never made a serious run at the Senators.
Barnes subbed throughout the second half, and it showed. The game got a little ragged.
"We got some young guys in that had been working hard in practice," Barnes said. "I told them that we need to go deeper than seven (during games)."
Ten different players scored for the Senators.
Brian Barnes led the way with 10 points, while Lowes, Steve Fowzer and Rutledge finished with nine each. Kalvin Case added six.
NOTES: Barnes said that his players raised all the money to go to Florida. The team will play three games in the tournament ... South Tahoe outscored Carson 30-22 in the second half ... Lowes and Pat Smith appeared to play the best among the non-starters. Smith had a nice putback in the second half ... After the annual Capital Classic set for Jan. 1-3, Nevada returns to action on Jan. 6 at home against Wooster.
CARSON BOYS JV 73, SOUTH TAHOE 34
Carlos Carillo had a team-high 11 points and Danny Gall added 10 to guide the Senators to a win in its Sierra League opener.
CARSON FROSH 82, SOUTH TAHOE 38
Carson's Ty Keefer led all scorers with 27 points to help the Senators improve to 7-1 overall. It was also the Sierra League opener for Carson, which got 12 points from Max Keller and 10 from Geoff Taylor.
Carson led 37-25 at the half and 62-35 after three before bombing the Vikings with a 20-3 fourth quarter.
- Contact Darrell Moody at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com, or by calling (6775) 881-1281