Late scoring woes cost CHS game

RENO — For the second straight day, Carson High’s boys basketball team didn’t finish well.

On Wednesday, it didn’t matter because the Senators had a double-digit lead late in the game. On Thursday, it meant a great deal because Carson was trying to overcome a deficit.

Carson fell short, failing to score in the last 2:55 of a 50-40 loss to Lowry in a second-round game of the Rail City Classic at Wooster High School.

The loss snapped Carson’s winning streak at four (4-2 overall). Carson is scheduled to play at 3 p.m. today against Placer at Wooster.

“I challenged the guys, telling them that they were playing one of the elite teams in the north,” coach Carlos Mendeguia said. “We needed to do three things to win — rebound, play good defense and not turn the ball over. We did two of those pretty well. We’re still getting to know each other, and we’re turning the ball over (16 times) too much. We played great defense, and that enabled us to hang in there against them.”

Carson played uphill the entire game. The Senators never led, and trailed by as many as 12 points in the second half. In the end, the Senators made the favored Buckaroos sweat.

Trailing 35-23 with 2:23 left in the third quarter, a layup by Kyle Denning, two free throws by Cameron Price (14 points), a free throw by Dilyn Rooker and a pretty left-handed buzzer-beating tip by Price made it 35-30 after three quarters.

Lowry made it 38-30 on a drive to the basket by Delane Black and a free throw by Garrett Naveran with 6:45 left. Carson went on a 10-4 surge over the next four minutes to make it 42-40 with 2:55 remaining.

Kyle Steele scored on a drive to the basket and then converted a Lowry turnover into another basket. Baskets by Josh Watterson and Naveran made it 42-36. Lowry turned the ball over on its next three possessions without getting off a shot, and the Senators turned two of those into baskets, one each by Austin Shaffer and Price to get it within a bucket.

“Our defense stepped up,” Mendeguia said. “Guys were finally staying down and closing the lane. We were playing better defense and rebounds, so we got more possessions.”

“I thought they outplayed us and outhustled us (in that stretch),” Lowry coach Chad Peters said. “They put a lot of pressure on us. Guys were taking on too much and doing their own thing.”

Carson was outscored 8-0 the rest of the way, as Lowry got a putback from Watterson and six free throws, five of them by Josh Shaver to put the game away.

“We missed three run-outs,” Mendeguia said. Carson went 0-for-3, turned the ball over twice and missed two free throws in that stretch.

In the first half, Carson turned the ball over 11 times which Lowry turned into eight points. It took a half-ending 6-3 run to cut Lowry’s lead to 21-16. Price and Denning had baskets in that stretch while Ian Schulz and Asa Carter added a free throw apiece. Carson went 7-for-19 from the floor in the first 16 minutes, including 2-for-9 in the second quarter.

“Considering how we played in the first half we were lucky to be down whatever we were,” Mendeguia said. “You play as good a team as Lowry, you have to value every possession.”

Lowry played all 13 of its players in the game because the Buckaroos had to play another game later in the evening against McQueen, and Peters admitted that could have had something to do with his team’s not-so-great performance.

“Maybe a little bit,” Peters said. “I don’t want to take anything away from Carson. They are very physical and play hard. Watterson got in foul trouble and Naveran couldn’t hit much. Thank god Connors was shooting the ball well.”

Connors had nine in the first half, all on 3-pointers. He finished with 14, tying Price for game honors.

JV GIRLS

Lovelock 46, Dayton 14

The outmanned Dust Devils had a rough go against Lovelock on Tuesday night.

Kallie Strong led Dayton with four points.