Carson boys coach Bruce Barnes won't admit it but the Senators caught Hug at the perfect time on Tuesday. Barnes' reasoning works fine, though.
"We were due to shoot the ball better after the last two games and we played good defense," said Barnes, whose team didn't shoot better than 30 percent from the field in consecutive losses to Wooster and Reno.
Ricky Correlli scored a game-high 18 points, Jason Alcasas had a season-high 12 points and two others scored in double figures in the Senators' 71-59 win over the Hawks at Morse Burley Gymnasium.
After beating Reno, the Northern 4A favorite, on Friday night, Hug has now dropped three straight. The Hawks have also logged more than 1,100 miles of traveling since then. They lost at Wooster on Saturday, lost to Bishop Gorman 67-60 on Monday in the Nevada Sports Network Classic in Las Vegas and has lost to Carson, another team which was trying to avoid a three-game skid.
Hug coach Brian Voyles, though, won't use the excuse that his team was tired.
"That wasn't it. As a coach now, we just got to back to the basics of defending, get back to the fundamentals," Voyles said. "We did some good things against Gorman and we didn't do some good things against them. Carson hurt so bad off the dribble. Our perimeter guys couldn't contain them and they just ran past us."
Ryan Henry and Ed Jaquette both scored 16 in the crucial win for the Senators, who were 21-of-55 from the field (38 percent), markedly better than their previous two games. Carson now sits at 4-2 at the end of the first half of the league season.
"Hug and South Tahoe still have to play each other so one of them has to lose," Barnes said. "So this was huge because it puts us back in the mix. We're just trying to get better each game. Like I said earlier, I don't think there's any team we can't beat and there's not anybody that can't beat us. This game got our confidence back and puts us back where we belong."
The Senators (11-8) held a 30-19 lead early in the second quarter before Hug went on a 14-2 run that put it back on top, 32-31, its first lead since it was 3-0. But Curtis Dixon, who scored six points, knocked down a jumper and Carson made 7-of-8 free throws before halftime as it led 40-36 at the break.
The Hawks, with tired legs and all, wouldn't go away until Alcasas started what turned out to be the clinching run for the Senators. Alcasas, a 6-foot-1 junior who has been productive at times this season, knocked down a 3-pointer when Carson was leading 45-43, then scored six more points in the fourth quarter to preserve the double digit lead for the Senators.
"He's an athlete and when he's confident, he can make plays," Barnes said. "He's been confident in practice lately and tonight's as well has he's played all season."
Jaquette scored seven straight points in the fourth quarter to put Carson up 60-50. Hug could only resort to chucking treys to get back into it, but the Hawks were only 1-of-9 from behind the arc in the fourth quarter and trailed by as many as 15 points, 70-55. Hug was led by Jose Garcia, who scored 14 points and made four 3-pointers. Wes Nichols added 11 for the Hawks, who play South Tahoe on Friday.
"We didn't let them get slashing and transition baskets, which is what they do well," Barnes said.
With Tuesday's win, Carson will be in the third spot in the league standings going into the second half of the season, which starts for the Senators next Tuesday against the Vikings in South Lake Tahoe.
