Carson’s Ethan Grant shoots for three during the game between the Galena Grizzlies and the Carson High Senators Monday.
Photo by Jeff Mulvihill, Jr. | InstaImage.
Carson High’s Ethan Grant gave the Senator boys basketball team its first lead of the night after swishing a triple from the far wing with 27 seconds left.
The 3-pointer put Carson in front, 44-43, but it was the Grizzlies that were able to leave Morse Burley Gymnasium victorious after hitting three shots at the free throw line in the remaining seconds.
The 46-44 win for Galena means the Grizzlies will head to No. 1 Spanish Springs Tuesday for a 6:30 p.m. start.
Tied at 44-all, Galena’s Matthew Ritenhouse stepped to the charity stripe with 6.7 seconds remaining and knocked down both free throws to put the Grizzlies back in front.
Carson burned a timeout and set up to go the length of the floor for a game-tying or potential game-winning shot.
Senior Parker Story pulled up from the top of the arc, but couldn’t get the shot to fall as it hit off the rim.
“We took the best shot we could get. It was a clean look at the rim. … Parker had the guts to shoot it and you can’t fault him for that,” said Carson High head coach Ty Golden.
Carson trailed throughout the game as Galena led by 12 points at the half.
By the end of the third, the Senators had cut it to six, 36-30, and continued to slowly shrink the deficit in the fourth.
Decarlo Quintana was a huge part of the comeback effort, putting together 10 of his 12 points in the second half.
Quintana also tallied eight rebounds and four steals.
Finding the ability to close the deficit late gave Carson confidence, but the Senators had their chances to shrink the gap at moments throughout the game,
“It’s a lot easier if you’re not trying to climb out of a hole all the time,” said Golden. “We did get some energy and momentum going, but I would love to have that energy up eight.”
The Senators wrap up the season with a 5-19 overall record and will lose Grant, Quintana, Story, Quentin Beck and Yaki Glenn to graduation in the spring.
“Whether it was having to learn lessons the hard way, which happened a lot. … We understood that it’s going to take a team. We need to be selfless, we need to sacrifice and we need to compete for each other; moments when we did that, we were at our best. Moments when we didn’t, we had to learn the hard way. Looking at next year, I hope some of that is in place,” said Golden. “You win and lose as a team and you’ve got to be together all the time.”