Panthers run past Senators

Carson High basketball coach Bruce Barnes had a laundry list of what the Senators had to do to beat North Valleys.

One was to control the tempo followed by patience on offense, running sets into the offense, keeping North Valleys below 70 points and handling the Panthers' pressure.

Carson was unable to do any of those things, and dropped a 75-65 Sierra League decision Friday night at Morse Burley Gymnasium which evened its league record at 1-1.

"We were 0 for 5," Barnes said. "We knew what we were supposed to do," Barnes said. "The kids are learning if they don't do the things (needed) they are not going to win the game."

The turning point of the game, according to Barnes and North Valleys coach Kyle Cerfoglio, was the final 3 minutes 58 seconds of the first half when the Panthers snapped a 26-all tie with 12 straight points.

"It was huge," Cerfoglio said. "Take that away and it's back and forth the whole rest of the way. We caused a couple of turnovers, we got to the basket and made some good decisions."

Bryan Coursey started the surge with a basket, and Carson turned the ball over three straight possessions. Tim Wholey capitalized on the last of the three Carson errors at the 1:26 mark, and he followed up with another basket 18 seconds later. Edgar Macias and Coursey scored after two more Carson turnovers and Travis Wilmuth completed the surge with a basket with three seconds left.

The Panthers shot 64 percent in the first half, draining 14 of 25 attempts. They were almost as good in the second half, hitting 10 of 21.

"We have a four-minute meltdown in every single game," Barnes said. "We use timeouts to try and slow (teams) down. We've yet to find a way to get ourselves out of it.

"Turnovers are a part of it, shot selection and (lack of) patience are a part of it. We had no one to handle Wholey. We talked to him and Coursey and that we couldn't give up dribble penetration. They got it whenever they wanted it."

North Valleys' lead stayed between eight and 12 much of the third period until Tony Fagan drained two free throws and a triple from the right corner at the buzzer, cutting the lead to 53-48.

Then it was Wholey's turn to take over. He scored the first eight North Valleys points in the final period, stretching the Panthers' lead to eight, 60-52, with 5:18 left in the game.

"When Carson went on a run, we did a good job of scoring a couple of baskets," Cerfoglio said. "I can't say enough about Wholey. He's a quiet kid, and for three years I've been trying to get him to be a leader. I don't think he understood until tonight that you don't have to be vocal. He leads by the way he plays."

Kevin Brush's three-pointer sliced the lead to 63-56 with 4:43 left, but two free throws by Coursey, a free throw by Wholey and a putback by Scott Zamora hiked the lead back up to 12 with 3:11 left.

Brian Welch, who fouled out in the fourth quarter, Brice Crook and Steve Mandoki scored 11 apiece for the Senators.

Darrell Moody can be reached at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com, or by calling (775) 881-1281