Amy Lisenbe/Nevada Appeal Carson's Rob Valerius attempts to shoot a basket as a Douglas defender reaches to block the shot Monday night at Carson High School during the boys varsity basketball game.
The Douglas Tigers jumped up on the Carson Senators early and withstood a trio of determined rallies - one in the first and two in the second half - to take a 60-51 victory at Morse Burley Gym on Monday.
And behind the first-half sharpshooting of junior James McLaughlin, who scored all 16 of his points in that span, and the dominance of 6-foot-8 senior center Jeff Nady, who scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half, the Tigers moved to 12-6 overall and set up a first-place showdown with Reno on Friday by remaining unbeaten at 4-0 in the Sierra League.
Carson fell to 1-3 in league, 8-9 overall.
"Anytime you play Carson, it's a close game," Nady said. "It's just how this rivalry works. They're a solid squad. They had runs. I thought we controlled the first half and in the second half they came out fired up and ready to play and we held our lead."
It was a pretty accurate summary by Nady.
Douglas took an early 11-4 lead behind five points (including a 3-pointer) by McLaughlin, four points by David Laird (who finished with 12 points) and an layup to open the scoring by Nady.
The Senators took their only lead of the game on an 8-0 run, featuring a Brian Barnes putback, a Caleb Carter layup, a Rob Valerius layup and a 17-footer by Carter, making it 12-11 with 2 minutes, 28 seconds left in the first quarter.
But the bigger Tigers were also more physical and accurate with their shooting. After holding an 18-12 lead to open the second quarter, Douglas took off on a 9-4 run - capped by a McLaughlin three - to take a 27-16 lead with 3:20 left in the half.
McLaughlin nailed another trey to give the Tigers their largest lead at that point - 32-20 - and Carson would only threaten twice more.
"Our guards were able to knock down some big-time shots," Nady said. "McLaughlin teed off with (four) threes in the (first half). They double-teamed me all night, which left our shooters open."
When Carson tried to remedy that situation, Nady went wild on the inside.
"After James gave us a boost in the first half, knocking down shots, I thought we got a little stagnant with our big guys, getting to them down inside," Douglas coach Corey Thacker said. "In the second half, we got down inside with David and Jeff. We did a great job of swinging it to all parts of the court."
Douglas held a 36-23 lead at the half and opened up the third quarter with an 11-2 run to take a 17-point lead at 42-25.
Carson got back into it, going on a 12-0 run, in which Carter scored four points (including a 3-pointer), Zach Rispin four (including a trey), and a 3-pointer by Matt Rutledge, who didn't start the third quarter because he had lost a contact lens.
"We did a good job of closing the gap (42-35), but it seemed like every loose ball on the floor went the wrong way," Carson coach Bruce Barnes said. "We got into foul trouble - David Eller fouled out and had three or four fouls early. We didn't have many reserves with size. They had a 6-8 guy in the middle (Nady). That's a problem when your center is sitting next to you."
A Brian Barnes layup would get the Senators as close as they would come the rest of the way - 54-47 - and Douglas built the lead to 60-47 on four points by Drew Hamlett and two by Nady to take an insurmountable lead.
"I thought our kids kept a cool head," Thacker said. "We didn't let them make us panic."
Up next for Douglas is a home game against unbeaten Reno Friday at 7 p.m. Carson will host Wooster at the same time Friday.
"We're in the same boat; we can't lose that game at home," Barnes said. "With people shooting at Douglas, Reno and Hug, we have to stay with everyone else."