Carson boys prep for Manogue, beat Damonte Ranch

BY DARRELL MOODY

Nevada Appeal Sports Writer

RENO" The Carson Senators will have less than 24 hours to savor the fact that they have started the Sierra League boys basketball season with three consecutive wins.

That's because the Senators, who used the strong inside play of Paul Cagle III and the outside shooting of Brian Barnes to defeat Damonte Ranch 62-52 Friday night, face Bishop Manogue today at 5 p.m. in Reno.

Today's will be by far the toughest game to date for the Senators, who have won four of their last five games overall.

"They don't like to hold the ball," said Carson coach Bruce Barnes, who has coached with Miners coach Bill Ballinger in AAU ball. "They want you to shoot it quickly, too. They are striving for 100 (points). They have the best personnel. Keith Fuetsch and Bobby Hunter are 25 points-a-game guys.

"Their coach has seen us play. They will do whatever they can to make us play at their tempo, and we'll do what we can to make them play at our tempo."

The big questions are whether Carson has the patience to shorten the game offensively, and if can it dominate on the defensive glass. Those will be the keys to the Senators pulling off a rather impressive upset today.

It will be a huge challenge defensively, but defense is the Senators' strong point these days. In its last three games, Carson's defense is holding opponents to an impressive 50.6 points per contest. Barnes was pleased with his team's defense against Damonte Ranch, which was held to 33 percent shooting from the field in the second half.

"Our defense was pretty good," Barnes said. "We don't have a stopper on defense. We have guys that understand team defense, guys at the defensive end taking charges. Paul (Cagle) started that when he first showed up to play for me. We held our poise (Friday) and we won on the road, which is tough."

Carson held Damonte Ranch to just three field goals in the first seven minutes of the final quarter. The Mustangs also turned the ball over five times in that stretch, and one of those was an offensive charge taken by Cagle.

Leading 46-40 after three periods, Carson went on a 7-2 run in the first 3:10 seconds of the final quarter. Junior forward Uriel Duran started the surge with a nice move inside, and after a Damonte miss, Kalvin Case scored to make it 50-42.

Damonte turned the ball over on its next possession. Cagle (15 points) was fouled and hit one of two for a 51-42 lead. Damonte's Chris Lombardo missed the front end of a one-and-one, and Carson answered with two Cagle free throws to extend the lead to double digits, 53-42.

A bucket by the Mustangs' Kyle Brush and a 3-pointer by Josh Angrick trimmed the lead to 55-47 with 2:23 remaining.

Damonte was forced to foul at that point, and the Senators were successful enough at the line to hold off the Mustangs. Brian Barnes (18 points) went 3-for-4 down the stretch and Ian Gunn hit two straight. Cagle also went 3-for-4 in the final quarter.

"We didn't have the defensive energy (we needed)," Damonte Ranch coach Torrey Sheets said. "We were a step behind and a reach ahead."

Sheets' plan to use a zone defense was trumped in the first quarter when Brian Barnes knocked down three 3-pointers to give Carson a quick 14-8 lead.

"We anticipated them starting in a zone," Coach Barnes said. "We got them out of it . Brian got off to a good start. That opened up the things inside. We're still a work in progress down low."

Carson junior forward Pat Smith had a couple of field goals in the paint while Cagle contributed a 3-pointer and Kalvin Case a three-point play to keep Carson in control at the half, 32-25. The Senators unofficially shot 52 percent in the first 16 minutes.

Sheets claimed that he got out of the zone to give Carson different looks, not because Carson had some success from the outside.

Sheets said Carson's surge at the outset of the third quarter was critical. Case, Smith and Barnes all scored to give Carson a 38-27 advantage. Damonte Ranch never got closer than six points the rest of the game.

- Contact Darrell Moody at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com or (775) 881-1281