Carson High boys basketball coach had the simplest and best word to describe his team's 59-56 win at South Tahoe on Saturday.
"Huge," he said.
In the topsy turvy Sierra League, the Senators improved to 2-1 heading into a key showdown at home with Reno High on Friday. Right now, Reno appears to be the frontrunner with everyone else jockeying for playoff position. South Tahoe fell to 1-2 after the loss.
In other action, Hug improved to 2-1 with a 70-54 win over Douglas, with the Tigers falling to 0-2. Carson's other win came against Hug. Reno also beat North Valleys on Saturday.
"They're still beatable," Carson coach Bruce Barnes said about Reno. "You just have to play well when you play them. There's no getting around that. They have a lot of weapons and they're very deep."
Barnes said his team played well against South Tahoe, especially in the third quarter when the Senators turned a 29-22 halftime deficit into a 49-43 lead by outscoring the Vikings 27-14 in the third quarter.
Kyle Bacon led the charge by scoring 16 of his 17 points in the third quarter. "He was attacking the basket," Barnes said. "He had a mismatch."
Carson overcame 10 Viking three-pointers to pull out the win. The Senators led 56-53 with 30 seconds left when South Tahoe hit a three to tie the game.
Kevin Brush came back and was fouled on penetration with 10 seconds left. He missed the first foul shot, but sank the second to give Carson a 57-56 lead.
After the Vikings missed a three, Brian Welch grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 2.5 seconds left. He missed the foul shot, but the ball came back to him and he scored as time ran out for the final margin.
"We played very well," Barnes said. "It was a very good game, back and forth the whole way. If you like to watch exciting games it was an exciting game to watch."
Welch and Brice Crook each added 15 points for Carson. Barnes also said that the play of point guard Adam Houghton was a key to the win. "I thought he played his best game of the year for us," Barnes said.
GALENA 52, ELKO 47
The Grizzlies nailed four three-pointers and shot 5-for-6 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter to rally for their High Desert League victory at Elko.
Galena (2-0, 12-5) trailed 37-35 at the end of three quarters, but played well down the stretch at both ends of the court.
"I thought our kids played extremely well, when you consider we were at Fallon Thursday and then Elko tonight. Those are two long road trips," Galena coach Tom Maurer said.
Galena played well at the end on both ends of the court, he went on.
"This was a good battle tonight. It was just a matter of who was going to break at the end - we hit some big shots, and defensively, we forced them into a lot of critical turnovers," Maurer said. "I just thought we did a good job of finishing the game off."
Eric Maupin, a 6-foot-3 sophomore, led the way as he hit a pair of clutch three-pointers and shot 2-for-2 from the line in the fourth quarter. Both of Maupin's three-pointers were key because they tied the score.
Derek Lorenzen, 6-7 freshman Luke Babbitt and Maupin scored 14 points each to lead Galena offensively. In all, eight players scored for Galena.
2A BOYS
ROP 68, BATTLE MOUNTAIN 55
Charon Jackson scored 18 points, including four three-pointers, while 6-foot-2 point guard Quan Baker scored 17 and dished out six assists as Rite of Passage improved its Northern 2A record to 2-1 (3-11 overall).
Phillip Williams had a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds for ROP. Sean Casaus scored 16 and Jordan Newgard 15 for Battle Mountain.
JUNIOR VARSITY
CARSON 50, SOUTH TAHOE 49
Nick Smallman's late steal led to a last-second basket by Rob Valerius that lifted the JV Senators to the one-point win.
Valerius finished with 17 points, while Jeff Van Epps scored 12, Zach Weisman seven and Travis Trethan six as Carson evened its league record at 1-1.
The Senators lost to North Valleys 50-35 on Friday night.
