RENO -- Bruce Barnes and the Carson Senators did everything they wanted against Reno and its 6-foot-11 Kansas-bound center and still lost.
David Padgett scored a game-high 33 points, a day after pouring in 36 against Hug, and had 14 blocks as the Huskies beat the Senators 60-51 on Saturday at Reno High.
"I thought our game plan was fine, except that we didn't shoot the ball well," Barnes said. "We got David away from the basket, we just couldn't hit any shots. We knew he was going to get his points."
Carson, which shot only 26 percent from the field in a 70-61 loss to Wooster on Friday night, only made four 3-pointers in more than 20 attempts against Reno (9-5 overall, 3-1 league). Nobody can explain why the team has shot so poorly in their current two-game skid, but they don't expect the trend to last.
Hopefully it will end on Tuesday, when the Senators play the Hawks, who upset the Huskies 63-59 on Friday night but then lost to Wooster on Saturday.
"It's just a couple of bad shooting nights, we'll come out of it," said senior guard Ryan Henry, who scored 10 points. "Hug's probably on a high after that win. Hopefully we'll come out and do what we know we can and do what we need to do to win."
The Senators (10-8, 3-2) trailed only 13-10 after the first quarter, but Padgett scored the first three baskets of the second quarter to put the Huskies up 19-10. Ricky Correlli's layup with 5:12 left before halftime made it 19-15, but Scott Jeannes scored two baskets and Padgett added another as Reno led 25-15. But Henry scored three consecutive baskets to end the quarter as the Senators trailed 29-21 at halftime.
"I think they're beatable," Henry said. "I think if we shot the ball better we would've gave them a better game. (But) their other guys are pretty strong, too."
Jeannes was the only other Husky in double figures with 13. Carson got within five points of the lead twice in the third quarter but never got any closer. Henry converted a three-point play that made it 31-26, then Rory Wunsch drained a 3-pointer from the corner to make it 34-29 with just over four minutes left in the third. But Reno ended the quarter on an 11-2 run to go up 45-31.
The Senators never cut Reno's lead below eight points in the fourth quarter, which is when they started hitting their outside shots. Carson was 6-of-17 from the field in the fourth and 2-of-6 on its 3-pointers. But with Padgett swatting away shots and altering just as many, the Senators just couldn't get a run together to seriously threaten the Huskies before the final quarter.
"They go to him so much and David can carry them by himself on some nights," Barnes said of Padgett, who's ranked as the 15th best recruit in the nation by ESPN.com. "That's two games in a row now we haven't shot the ball well. I thought we played hard, though. That was the main difference between last night (Friday vs. Wooster) and tonight. I can't fault our effort, we played hard the entire game."
Correlli, who scored a career high 29 points against the Colts, led Carson again with 14 points. Ed Jaquette, who fouled out in the fourth quarter, had 10. The Senators were 9-of-13 from the free throw line.
If the Senators want a chance at the second seed from the Sierra League or even to solidify a spot in the Northern 4A playoffs, a win over Hug on Tuesday might be needed. The Hawks, the defending Northern 4A champs who rallied from a 24-7 first-quarter deficit to beat Reno, are currently tied first in the league with Reno and Wooster at 3-1. Douglas helped Carson's playoffs hopes big time on Saturday when it beat South Tahoe 63-53 in overtime on Saturday in South Lake Tahoe. The Vikings are now 2-3 in league.
"Hug's real quick and that caused them (Reno) some problems," Barnes said. "They obviously don't have anybody of Reno's caliber but they got a few big guys. I think we match up a little better with them."
