Trenten Robison drives to the basket against Galena on Tuesday night.
The Carson-Galena rivalry has produced some great games over the years, and Tuesday night was no exception.
Tez Allen scored five points and made a great defensive play in the last three minutes, and Sevon Mandoki drained a 3-pointer and scored a critical lay-up, and Carson held off Galena, 47-43, in the Sierra League opener for both schools at Morse Burley Gym.
Carson improved to 5-2 in 4A play with a showdown at home against Bishop Manogue Friday night.
“We have had some classic games with these guys the last four years,” Carson coach Carlos Mendeguia said.
“They are a skilled and well-coached team. We knew we would have to bring our A game tonight.”
And, that’s exactly what Carson did in the second half, outscoring Galena, 27-16, to wipe out a seven-point halftime deficit.
The Senators had got back into the game when they outscored Galena 12-5 in the third quarter to pull into a 32-all tie, and they took their first lead of the game since early in the first period on a Trent Robison lay-up with 6:49 remaining.
Mandoki made it 37-32 lead with a 3-pointer, but Galena battled back to tie the game at 40 with 3:21 left on a three-point play by Dillon Voyles (19 points), a 3-pointer by Trae Thomson and two free throws by Moses Wood, who finished with 11 points.
That’s when Allen came up with some big plays at both ends of the floor.
Allen broke the 40-all tie with a three-point play following Thomson’s free throws. Voyles drained two free throws after an Allen turnover to make it 43-42 with 2:18 left. Mandoki, known more for his defensive skills, scored his final basket of the game to make it 45-42 with 2:02 left.
Galena came down on its next possession and went 0-for-4, as the Senators were unable to corral a rebound on the first three attempts. Following an Allen turnover, Thomson made it 45-43 with 47.2 left.
Galena, with fouls to give, fouled twice, and Carson compounded matters when it turned the ball over on a bad pass.
“I told them in the huddle that we still had one timeout left, and we panicked,” Mendeguia said.
With a chance to tie or go ahead, Allen (19 points) stripped Voyles and scored at the other end to clinch the game.
“He tried the crossover the last time and beat me, so I thought he might try it again,” Allen said.
“Tez made an outstanding defensive play,” Mendeguia said. “That’s what seniors do. He’s our go-to guy.”
Galena’s length bothered Carson throughout the game. Wood did a nice job on Jayden DeJoseph, who finished with just nine points.
Galena hustled the ball downcourt, but DeJoseph, even though he should have let Galena put up a shot, got a hand on the attempt at the buzzer.
Six of those came in the pivotal third quarter when Carson started its comeback. DeJoseph’s putback and lay-up sliced Galena’s lead to 30-26, and his third basket of the quarter made it 32-20 with 2:05 remaining. Geraet Rauh tied the game at 32 with 1:09 left .
“We didn’t play real well the first half,” Mendeguia said.
That is an understatement. Carson shot 30 percent from the field and missed three free throws. Actually, Carson scored eight points in the first 3 1/2 minutes of the game, but managed just one basket the remainder of the period, contributing to a 17-12 first-quarter deficit.
The second quarter was all Allen. He scored all eight CHS points (19 for the game). Allen was frustrated at times by Voyles and Wood on the inside, but he eventually won the war.
LEMBURG SPARKS CARSON TO WIN
Lauren Lemburg was due for a big game.
The left-handed guard had gone scoreless in two of her last three games, but that changed on Tuesday.
Lemburg scored five of Carson’s first seven points en route to a 19-point effort in Carson’s 45-41 win over Galena in the Sierra League opener for both schools at Morse Burley Gym.
“We played better as a team,” CHS coach Melissa Larsen said. “We attacked better. We tried some different things (offensively) tonight. We are still making too many mistakes, though.”
Carson trailed 33-32 with 7 minutes left in the contest, but the Senators took a 44-38 lead thanks to a 12-5 surge led by Lemburg and Bella Kordonowy with four points each.
Haley Garver started the surge with two free throws and Lemburg added another. After Galena tied the game at 35, Lemburg had a trey and Camryn Quilling drained two free throws to make it 40-35 with 1:58 left. Tyler Crofoot drained a trey for Galena, but Kordonowy scored four straight points to make it a two-possession game with 20 seconds left.
Kristin Farrell, who scored 19 for the Grizzlies. made it 44-41 with 7.3 left. Kordonowy capped the scoring with a free throw with 3.1 remaining.
Farrell was a tough customer, scoring half of Galena’s points in the opening 16 minutes. Carson left the floor with a 23-22 lead, and the teams were never separated by more than four points. The game was tied three different times in the first half.