RENO - During Carson High's run to the Sierra League football championship, Josh Peacock was assigned to the opposing team's best receiver. Even though he's wearing sneakers instead of cleats these days, nothing has changed.
Peacock held Douglas transfer C.J. Marcotte without a field goal and just five points, while he scored six points and pulled down 10 rebounds of his own to help Carson grab a 43-40 win Tuesday night in a Sierra League game.
Carson improved to 4-1 in league, while Galena dropped to 3-2.
Marcotte scored three points after being fouled on a 3-point attempt in the first quarter. He went scoreless in the second and third quarters before making two free throws with 1 minute, 14 seconds left in the game.
"He really didn't do much," Peacock said of Marcotte. "He tried to drive by me a couple of times, but I had some help. He wouldn't try to shoot it over me."
While Peacock did some nice work up top, Brennan Shaffer helped hold Alex Hansen to five points, all in the fourth quarter.
"Josh did a great job," Carson coach Bruce Barnes said. "I thought Brennan did a good job on Hansen. Those were the two guys I was most concerned with. Josh is our lock-down guy on guys over 6-foot-1. Anybody under 6-1 Brennan is our lockdown guy.
"This was a big win; a good road win. This keeps us even with Douglas. We're fighting for the top four. That's what we're in it for. "
No more than five points separated the teams until midway through the fourth quarter when the Senators went on a 6-3 run to grab a 41-33 lead with 2:03 left. It was the biggest lead for either team.
Trey Jensen (eight points) started the surge with a lay-up, but Hansen came back with a 3-pointer as Galena trimmed Carson's led to 37-33. Both teams missed shots on their ensuing possession, but Pat Smith scored in the paint to make it 39-33. Marcotte missed on the ensuing possession and then the Grizzlies turned it over. Shaffer was fouled and knocked down both free throws for the aforementioned 41-33 lead.
That's when things got interesting.
Carson was trying to run the clock down without a lot of success. Hansen scored for the final time with 1:49 left to make it 41-35, and Marcotte scored for the final time with two free throws to make it 41-37 with 1:14 remaining after a Brian Barnes turnover.
Peacock was fouled with 59.7 left and missed both shots. There was a scramble for the ball, and coach Barnes called time out with 56.3 left. Galena coach Tom Maurer argued to no avail that Carson didn't have control when time was called.
Brian Barnes was fouled on the inbound play, but missed the front end of a 1-and-1, leaving the door open for the Grizzlies. Trey Jensen made it 42-37 when he dropped in one of two from the line.
Galena's Kern Brooks was fouled with 22.4 left, but he missed both shots from the line. Nate Hosmer trimmed the lead to 42-40 with a 3-pointer with 6.5 left. Jensen was fouled on the inbounds pass and hit a free throw to secure the victory. Hansen's game-tying 3-point attempt was short.
Maurer was disappointed with the outcome and the way his team played at certain times.
"There were seven or eight things that we did that complicated things like our free-throw shooting," he said. "It was a fun game; a chess match between the coaches. Carson did a great job winning the game."