Carson High boys basketball
Carson High combo guard Parsa Hadjighasemi (23) attempts to dribble past Bishop Manogue defender Ethan Goon (20). Hadjighasemi had 13 points in the Senators' 72-46 loss to the Miners Tuesday night.
Jeff Mulvihill, Jr. | InstaImage
There wasn’t much of an ease into the 2021-22 league season for Carson High boys basketball.
The Senators, who were shorthanded due to COVID protocols, couldn’t keep pace with Bishop Manogue in the opening half, eventually falling 72-46.
There were plenty of optimistic takeaways from Carson’s second half of play, but throughout the first 16 minutes the Miners made the Senators uncomfortable.
Bishop Manogue picked pocketed the Senators on each of their first three offensive possession to grab a 7-0 lead.
Parsa Hadjighasemi grabbed a steal of his own, laying in a bucket to make it 7-3.
From there, the Miners went on a 12-2 run fueled by Isaiah Garcia’s outside shot and more Senator turnovers to take a 19-5 lead.
Carson head coach Jordan Glover thought the hype surrounding the game and having a packed gym added to the early-game nerves for the Senators.
“I think we sped ourselves up. I think the moment was a little too big for us at the time,” said Glover. “It showed with our turnovers.”
With a little less size, early foul trouble also forced Carson’s biggest inside presence, DeCarlo Quintana, to the bench.
Quintana ended his night with five points, all of which came in the second quarter and beyond.
“He’s our rim protector and paint presence. When he gets two early fouls, he doesn’t feel good and then we don’t feel good,” said Glover. “That’s hard for DC to come back from.”
Hadjighasemi saw a consistent defender in his face throughout the night and got caught forcing a shot or two from time-to-time.
Despite his best efforts to create space, Hadjighasemi didn’t draw many whistles the other way.
The senior combo guard ended his night with 13 points.
“I think he puts more pressure on himself than anyone does. They were all over him today,” said Glover. “It seemed like we tried to force the ball a little bit instead of letting it evolve and come to him.”
Despite the tough league opener, Glover expressed his gratitude toward his bench stepping up and fighting through tough minutes even when trailing by a decent margin.
Sophomore guard Michael Hughes, who was cleared today after an arm injury, overcame early nerves to put together eight points along with several assists and a couple of drawn charges in the second half.
A junior varsity call up, Justin Moore, finished with four points and pulled down a handful of tough rebounds.
“Those guys on the bench had maybe 10 or 15 minutes of Saturday’s game as all of their varsity experience,” said Glover. “Hughes got to the free throw line like eight times. Justin … gave us fantastic minutes and rebounds.”
UP NEXT: Carson (1-1, 0-1) will head over the Sierra to California this weekend for a three-game tournament.
Tuesday Boys area scores
Douglas 78, Reno 58
Spanish Springs 71, Galena 50
Pyramid 65, North Valleys 25
Damonte Ranch 79, McQueen 71
Tuesday Girls area scores
Bishop Manogue 82, Carson 8
Reno 53, Douglas 45
Galena 53, Spanish Springs 39
