By DARRELL MOODY
Nevada Appeal News Service
MINDEN - Carson and Douglas used the same recipe for victory - defense - as each posted second-day wins at the third annual Carson Valley Classic Friday night.
Carson shut down Fallon for the better part of three quarters en route to a 54-47 win in Pool A play, and Douglas choked off Overland's inside game and rolled to a 55-39 victory in Pool B. In other games, Laguna Creek of Elk Grove edged Davis 69-64 in Pool A action, and Bishop Manogue edged Reed 80-74 in Pool B play.
The final round of pool play starts today at 10 a.m. with Manogue (1-1) meeting Overland of Aurora, Colo. (0-2) at Carson Valley Middle School, Fallon (0-2) facing Davis (1-1) at 11:30 a.m. at Carson Valley Middle School. Carson (1-1) faces Laguna Creek (2-0) at 10 a.m. at Douglas High School, and Reed (1-1) faces Douglas (2-0) at 11:30 a.m. at Douglas.
Placement games start at 3:30 p.m. at Douglas. In case of a three-way tie, the tiebreaker is point differential. In case of a two-way tie, head-to-head results are used. The championship game is set to tip at 8 p.m.
Carson coach Bruce Barnes was pleased with the effort on the defensive end of the floor.
"We played with intensity at the defensive end," he said. "I thought we played a bit better tonight. I think Fallon is a pretty decent team. They've been in every game except the first one (at Douglas). We had a group of guys that played well off the bench."
With a 34-31 lead after three periods, Carson went on an 8-2 run to take a 42-33 lead with 5:20 left in the game. Jason Alcasas, who scored 32 points on Thursday, had a big hand in the run.
Alcasas, who finished with 17 points, hit three free throws in the first 55 seconds of the quarter to give Carson a 37-31 lead. After Fallon's Jesse West netted two foul shots to make it 37-33, Alcasas hit another free throw, Rory Wunsch hit from the right corner and Alcasas threw down a short bank shot for a 42-33 lead.
Fallon's Kal Schank knocked down a free throw to trim the lead to 42-34, but Carson went on a 9-5 run to increase its lead to 51-39 with 1:18 remaining. Adam Houghton led the surge with two layups and two foul shots.
Kyle Bacon finished with 11 points for the Senators. Jeff Weed led Fallon with 12, and West added 11.
Douglas went on a 16-2 tear in a six-minute span of the third quarter to put away a young, yet scrappy Overland team.
Andy McIntosh, who finished with six points and six rebounds, started the surge when he followed in a missed shot. Eric Emm made two foul shots and freshman center Keith Olson scored two of his game-high 15 points to make it 28-18 with 5:30 left.
After a basket by Christian Teague, the Tigers reeled off 10 more points for a 38-20 lead with 33.3 left in the third period. Nick Summers (9 points) scored twice, while McIntosh, Chris Honer and Emm chipped in a bucket apiece.
Two three-pointers by Lameck Suuna (12 points) helped trim the lead to 44-34 with 3:02 left in the game, but eight straight Douglas points boosted the lead to 17.
"We played very well," Douglas coach Keith Lewis said. "I thought it was one of the best defensive efforts I've seen since I've been here. We played like we'd scouted them for a long time. We did a great job of being in the right place. They didn't get many open looks at the basket.
"It was a good team win. A lot of guys are stepping up and making big plays. We passed the ball real well, and did a good job of getting the ball inside to Keith."
Indeed. Olson was hot from the floor, hitting 7 of 11. He also pulled down nine rebounds and dished out three assists.
Reed's Robert Vega led all scorers with 28 points, but the Raiders were unable to overcome Bishop Manogue's depth, as the Miners put four players in double figures.
Joe Pugh led the way with 22 points on 10-for-13 shooting, and Kenny Viser added 11. Franklin Igbekoyi and Daniel Fiocchini added 10 each for Manogue, which shot 53 percent from the floor and outrebounded Reed 35-15.
Laguna Creek took the lead in the second half, 48-41, with a 17-5 run led by Chise Nicholson (12 points), who knocked down a trey and two-pointer, and Sean Baitlinger (17 points), who scored on a putback and layup.
Davis tied the game at 48 with 2.1 left in the period, but a free throw by Jon Fritzsche gave the Cardinals a 49-48 lead after three. The Blue Devils made it 63-60 with 2:23 left in the game, but a three-point play by Baitlinger and two free throws by Fritzsche won it for the Cardinals.
