RENO — Cameron Price had thoughts about quitting basketball, and he was absent throughout the summer season.
“I needed a break, and I had some family issues,” Price said. “In the end, I couldn’t live without basketball.”
That decision was good news for the Carson Senators, and bad news for the rest of the Division I schools in Northern Nevada.
Price scored 17 points and did yeoman-like work on the boards and interior defense to lead the Senators to a 53-42 win over Galena in a Sierra League battle Thursday night.
Carson improved to 2-0 in Division I play and 7-2 overall heading into tonight’s (7 p.m. tip) against Bishop Manogue at Carson High.
Price and the Senators set the tone early, outscoring the Grizzlies 16-5 in the opening quarter. Price was the catalyst with eight of those points.
“I wanted to be as aggressive as I could,” Price said when asked about his early output.
It fits in with what Carson coach Carlos Mendeguia has been stressing.
“Our focus has been on coming out and being ready to play,” Mendeguia said. “Anytime you go on the road and can steal a win it’s huge. This is not an easy place to play. We fought through some adversity and got the result we were looking for. The kids stayed solid.
“He’s (Price) coming around. He didn’t play all summer, and each game he is getting better and better as he learns the system. He rebounds for us, he scores for us and he can step out to the perimeter and hit a 3-pointer.”
Price’s activeness helped get Galena’s Zackary Lessinger in early foul trouble. The Grizzlies’ center picked up two fouls 28 seconds apart in the first two minutes and went to the bench quickly. He did lead the team in scoring with 15 points, but was nowhere near the factor he needed to be thanks to the work of Price, Alan Cohen and Andrew Cooper. Lessinger never did foul out despite the fact Carson took the ball at him numerous times. In one possession, he swatted away back-to-back shots.
“He has played a lot of basketball,” Mendeguia said. “He knows how to play with fouls. He is one of the top centers in the league. He and Josiah Wood (3 points) were our focus defensively, and I thought we did a good job.”
Carson maintained its double-digit lead through most of the second quarter thanks to 3-pointers by Kyle Denning, who finished with 10 points. A basket by Alex McClellan and free throw by Ben Bosse trimmed Carson’s lead to 28-19 at the half.
“Normally we bring Kyle off the bench ,” Mendeguia said. “We talked about things at the shootaround. Kyle did a great job defensively (on Wood) and he made some big shots.”
Two buckets by Denning, a layup by Cohen and a free throw by Kyle Steele led a 7-0 burst and gave Carson a 35-21 advantage midway through the third period, and that’s when the aforementioned adversity came in.
Galena scored six of the last eight points in the third period, and then went on a 9-4 run in the first 5-plus minutes of the fourth quarter to cut Carson’s lead to 44-37 with 2:49 remaining.
Carson quickly restored order thanks to a free throw by Asa Carter, a layup by Steele and two free throws by Price. Steele made a huge play in that span, stripping the ball away from Galena’s Noah Peck which led to Price’s foul shots.
“We made a lot of big plays defensively tonight,” Mendeguia said.
Galena cut it to 49-42 with 54 seconds left, but he Senators drained four foul shots down the stretch to secure the win.
JV BOYS
Carson 48, Galena 41
Greg Wallace and Cody Azevedo combined for 29 points to help the Senators squeeze past Galena Thursday night at Morse Burley Gym.
Wallace led the way with 15 and Azevedo added 14. Tez Allen chipped in seven for the 5-1 Senators.
Sierra Lutheran 49, Redding Christian 39
REDDING — Nick Walker scored 16 points and Michael Patrick scored 14 points to lead the Falcons to a 49-39 non-league victory on Thursday.
FRESHMAN BOYS
Carson 36, Galena 32
Garaet Raun scored 13 points to lead the Senators to a narrow home victory.
Sevon Mandoki added eight points for Carson, which improved to 5-1.