BY DARRELL MOODY
Nevada Appeal Sports Writer
Carson basketball coach Bruce Barnes was like a proud papa when he talked about his team's defensive effort Tuesday night.
Dexter Daum scored Fallon's first 14 points in the opening 9-plus minutes, but the Senators put the clamps on the Greenwave star and the rest of his teammates in the final 20 minutes of the contest en route to an impressive 50-25 victory at Morse Burley Gym.
At 8-5, Carson remains tied with Galena for third place, but the Grizzlies have the tie-breaker advantage. Carson is at Douglas on Friday, while Galena plays undefeated Manogue. Fallon, which played without Garrett Anderson (injured in a car accident), dropped to 10-3.
Fallon managed just four points the entire second half, knocking down just 2-for-13 from the field and turning the ball over four times. Fallon went the final 7:50 of the third quarter without a point and the final 5:57 of the game without a point.
"That is the most physical we have been playing defense in at least a year," Barnes said. "We held them to four points the second half.
"We went to lock-up mode (on Dex Daum). (Steve) Fowzer did a great job and so did Ean Witter. We made every possession hard for him."
There wasn't a possession where Daum didn't have some body contact with a Carson defender. He did score both Fallon baskets in the second half, but the contact certainly took its toll.
"The shots didn't fall and it affected the rest of our game," Fallon coach Corey Williams said. "He (Anderson) would have made a big difference, but not this big of a difference."
Daum's last basket of the first half cut Carson's lead to 23-20 with 2:05 left. A 7-1 half-ending run by the Senators gave them a 30-21 lead. Brian Barnes (14 points) started the surge with a 3-pointer from the right side and he ended it with a buzzer-beating putback after Kalvin Case misfired.
Carson opened the second half with a turnover, and Daum trimmed the lead to 30-23 with a bucket.
Carson scored 11 straight, as Paul Cagle III scored on a putback, Barnes hit a jump shot, and Cagle scored on a layup, Case drained a 3-pointer and Fowzer scored on a lay-up to make it 41-23 with 2:02 left.
Case has played much better in the second half of the season at the offensive end.
"He's our best 17-to-18-foot jump shooter; the best we have on the team," coach Barnes said.
Neither team scored the rest of the period. Fallon remained in its 1-3-1 zone, and that probably was a mistake. At the end of the third quarter, Matt Rutledge dribbled nearly a minute off the clock before Cagle misfired with less than five seconds left.
Barnes scored two quick baskets to open the fourth quarter for a 45-23 lead. Russell Smith misfired on the next possession, and Carson's game-ending strategy became apparent.
Carson spread the floor and ran more than a minute off the clock before Cagle scored to make it 47-23. Daum scored on a putback with 5:57 left.
The Senators spread the floor again on their next possession, running more than two minutes off the clock. They didn't score, but it didn't matter. Fallon tried to trap and attempted to play a little bit of man-to-man to no avail.
"We talked about if we got up by five points we were going to pull it out a little bit," coach Barnes said. "We have the advantage if they go man-to-man. They are stubborn. They like to stay in that 1-3-1.
"They have two types of 1-3-1. One they will extend and the other they will trap. We were able to go to our '21 set' and we'd have mismatches if they extend."
- Contact Darrell Moody at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com, or by calling 881-1281