Fernley 1-point better than Carson High in season opener

FERNLEY — Trent Robison did everything he could to get the Jordan Glover era off to a successful start Tuesday night.

The Carson standout scored 24 points, but it wasn’t quite enough as the Senators came up a point short, losing 50-49 to Fernley in the boys basketball opener for both schools.

“It was a great first game to be a part of,” Glover said after talking to his squad. “It was a good first test, and we can learn from it. Fernley had a lot of returning players and we just had two or three.”

And, it came down to the wire.

After Dario Ceresola missed the front end of a 1-on-1 situation with 14.2 seconds remaining, Abel Carter grabbed the rebound and dribbled to the front-court where Glover was calling for a timeout with 9.2 seconds remaining.

Carter, though not by design, wound up getting the final shot. He drove hard to the basket, but his game-winning shot was blocked by Russell Ortiz as time expired.

“We were trying to get to the line,” Glover said. “We were trying to get the ball in Trent’s hands. He had been getting to the rack all night. We were trying to get the ball to the elbow where he was comfortable, but Fernley denied it. They did a good job defensively.”

Robison was disappointed after the game. He felt he could have done a little more.

“I’ll shoulder the blame for this one,” Robison said. “I should have made a couple of more free throws.”

Robison did go 7-for-13 from the line. He was a force inside most of the night. Robison appears to have expanded his game. He didn’t just work inside like he did last year. He drove the ball, hit shots from the perimeter and even handled it some.

“I felt good,” Robison said. “I worked really hard (in the off-season) to become more of a complete player. I worked hard on my shot. I want to be complete as I can.”

Unfortunately, other than Robison and Derek Barry, it was a tough night for the Senators. Barry added 10, mostly from the inside, Carson was 18-for-39 from the floor and turned the ball over 12 times, leading to eight Fernley points.

Carson played without Jackson Sayre, who was ill and didn’t attend the game. Glover admitted that made a difference.

“That is an easy 10 to 12 points a game,” Glover said. “With him, we have one more guy on the bench.”

Two of the aforementioned turnovers came down the stretch.

Leading 45-44 with about three minutes left, Robison cut to the basket, and appeared to be held up by a Fernley defender as the ball sailed out of bounds. Rei Robinett, who scored 23 points, hit a jump shot to give Fernley a 46-45 lead with 2:01 left. Carson turned the ball over on the next possession, and Zach Burns scored to make it 48-45.

Robison made one of two free throws to make it 48-46, but Burns made two free throws, increasing the lead to 50-46.

Robinett was a thorn in Carson’s side most of the night.

Trailing 27-20 early in the third quarter, Robinett keyed a quarter-ending 17-8 surge to give the Vaqueros a 37-35 lead after three quarters. He had three 3s and a four-point play when he was fouled on a 3-point basket by Johnny Randall.

“Our goal was to stop Burns (5 points) and we did that,” Glover said. “We wanted somebody else to beat us. He (Robinett) hit a couple of 3s, we took a timeout, and we still lost him a couple of more times. He is a good shooter.”

Sierra Lutheran 60, Oasis 12

The Falcons rolled to a 21-0 lead after one quarter en route to an easy win in their 1A season opener.

Zane Warkentin led the way with 15 points, six steals and nine rebounds. Thomas Mellum added 12 points.

“I was really proud how the boys played tonight,” coach Ben Walther said. “Our defense was very strong and we used that intensity to create some fast-break scores. Great contribution from all players tonight.”