Correlli, Henry both score 12 to lead Carson past Spring Creek, 68-38

All that was standing in the way for Carson and its much anticipated rematch with Reed was pesky Spring Creek. And pesky they were, especially when the Senators came out uninspired in the opening quarter. Fortunately, Ryan Henry was there to give them a boost.

Henry scored all 12 of his points in the first half as Carson overcame a slow start to advance the semifinals of the 25th Capital Classic with a 68-38 win over the Spartans on Thursday night at Morse Burley Gymnasium.

Carson (12-4) will face Reed tonight at 7:15 p.m. in one semifinal. In the other semifinal, Reno will play Arch Bishop Alter (Ohio) today at 5:30 p.m. The Raiders beat Wooster 74-60 and Alter beat Elko 62-47 in other first round games on Thursday at Carson High.

"We know we shouldn't ever overlook anybody," Henry said. "But we picked it up in the second half. These next two games, we'll come out fired up."

Going up against Spring Creek, a 3A school, may have had something to do with the Senators' slow start. But that's not a good enough excuse for Carson coach Bruce Barnes. But Barnes admitted he won't have anything to worry about tonight against Reed, which handed the Senators their first loss of the season at the Nevprep.com Classic.

"We came out flat and we didn't come out with a whole of energy (against Spring Creek)," Barnes said. "We need to know that we can be beaten by anybody on any night. But that's all the kids have been talking about (a rematch with Reed). They look at that game as one they should've won. I didn't coach that well and we didn't handle the pressure that well. We just didn't make the adjustments that we needed to late in the game."

At least the proper adjustments were made against Spring Creek. Carson didn't lead until Henry's 3-pointer midway through the first quarter, which broke an 8-8 tie. Then his three-point play in the second quarter capped off an 8-2 run that put the Senators up 28-16 lead. The Spartans (3-7) never threatened the rest of the way. Henry knocked down another trey later in the second that gave Carson a 31-19 lead.

The Senators led 38-26 at halftime.

"He's been shooting the ball well for us lately," said Barnes about Henry, who scored a season-high 14 points against Upper St. Claire (Pennsylvania) over the weekend at the Las Vegas Holiday Prep Classic. "We've told him when he's wide open, well, especially when he's wide open, to go ahead and shoot it. He's as good a shooter that we have."

Henry must be listening.

"I've been feeling pretty good," Henry said. "I think I got my confidence back and this game helped a lot with that."

The Spartans didn't even score in the fourth quarter, making them the only team, obviously, not to score against Carson in a quarter this season. The Senators outscored Spring Creek 16-0 in the fourth. The Spartans only shot 5-of-24 from the field in the second half and were led by Jaramiah Monett, who finished with 11 points. Shane Forsbarg added eight points.

Vince Inglima scored a game-high 15 points and Ricky Correlli was the only other Senator in double figures, finishing with 12. Ryan Buttner had eight.

It'll probably take another team effort to knock off Reed, which has surprisingly jumped out to an 11-3 record, second best in the Northern 4A behind Hug. So while Henry wants to maintain his confidence, he realizes that he's not counted upon to score. And if it means not scoring at all to beat Reed tonight, that's fine with him.

"We can score so many many ways, we really distribute the scoring," Henry said. "All we've wanted was another chance at them (Reed). We feel that game shouldn't have happened, it was a fluke."