Kevin Clifford/Nevada Appeal
The Carson Senators played the role of a kind New Year's Day party host Thursday in the opening round of the Lion's Club Capital Classic boys basketball tournament.
"Yeah, I think they kind of played down to the level of competition a little bit," said Sparks coach Dick Lee after the Senators handed his Railroaders a 51-36 loss at Morse Burley Gymnasium. "They missed a lot of shots around the basket, shots they would normally make."
The Senators, though, exploded out to a 19-6 lead after one quarter and coasted to the easy victory despite shooting just 31 percent (18-of-58) from the field.
"The shots we took were the shots we wanted to take," Senators coach Bruce Barnes said. "We just didn't make a lot of them. We shot the ball miserably."
Matt Rutledge, Paul Cagle and Brian Barnes each drained 3-pointers in the first four minutes of the game as Carson jumped out to a 9-2 lead. Barnes finished the opening quarter with nine points as the Senators threatened to run the Railroaders out of the gym.
The Carson offense, though, faded away faster than a New Year's resolution in the second and third quarters. The Senators shot just 17 percent (5-of-30) and scored a mere 13 points in the second and third quarters combined.
"We missed lay-up after lay-up after lay-up," said Barnes, whose team is now 6-4 this season. "That's just not concentrating enough around the rim. But that's not the first time that has happened this season to us. It's nothing more than concentration and we have to fix it.
"We were lucky we had a big enough lead."
The Senators took a 22-6 lead two minutes into the second quarter. Sparks, though, outscored Carson 10-4 during the final six minutes of the third quarter to cut the Senators' lead to 32-22 heading into the fourth quarter. A couple of lay-ups by Carson's Uriel Duran midway through the third quarter were all the stood in the way of Sparks cutting the Senators' lead to single digits.
"We're still learning how to be students of the game," said Lee of his young team. "We're working on it but we still have a ways to go."
Angel Guillen scored eight of his game-high 15 points in the third quarter to put a little pressure on the Senators.
"He was Second Team All-League last year (in the Northern 3A)," Lee said. "He's our best players, probably one of the top three players in 3A. But sometimes he tries to do too much and he gets in trouble. But he's still learning, too."
The Senators revived their offense in the fourth quarter.
Rutledge hit his second 3-pointer of the game to give the Senators a 40-27 lead with five minutes to play.
"That was a key basket for us," Barnes said. "We were able to spread the floor a little bit and get the ball to Matt."
Pat Smith added a pair of key buckets down the stretch to hold off the Railroaders. Smith had a lay-up for a 45-30 lead and then put back an offensive rebound for a 47-32 lead with just less than two minutes to play.
The Senators will meet Central Valley today at 7:30 p.m. in the Capital Classic semifinals. Hug will meet Fallon in the other semifinal game at 6 p.m. In consolation round games, Sparks plays Lowry at 3 p.m. followed by Reed and Damonte Ranch at 4:30 p.m.