Despite being plagued by the turnover bug on offense, the Douglas boys' basketball team ran its record to 4-0 on the year, beating Fallon 75-39 Thursday afternoon in the opening round of the Carson Valley Classic in Minden.
Standout 6-10 center Keith Olson scored 21 points to lead all scorers, Mike Gransbery scored 11 and Jeff Nady scored 10 to lead the Tigers as all but one of their active players put points on the board.
On the other side, Fallon was limited to just 10 field goals, hampered greatly by Douglas' distinct size advantage in the middle.
Even so, the Greenwave was stellar from the free-throw line, taking advantage of 17 Tiger fouls to go 15-for-18 from the line.
Olson scored off the opening tip, motoring down the floor after batting the ball to Gransbery and receiving the ensuing pass for the layup.
Fallon raced back down and got a nice breakaway basket from Brice Hunter to tie the game.
The Greenwave was then shut out over the next five minutes, due in part to the Tigers' aggressive defense and in part to some hard luck shooting the ball, missing at least four open shots.
In the meantime, the Tigers put together a 13-0 run, keyed by four points from Olson and a big 3-pointer from Gransbery, hit three from outside during the game.
Douglas pushed the lead to 38-18 through the rest of the half, punctuated by a nice breakaway opened up by 6-8 backup center Joe Nady near the end of the half.
Nady grabbed the ball, pushed it up to guard Jared Trowbridge and took a give-and-go pass for the layup.
Douglas was plagued by some sloppy turnovers in the first half, but made up for it with solid defense and strong play inside from Olson, both Nady brothers, Nate Whalin and David Laird.
The Tigers opened up the second half with twin 3-pointers from James McLaughlin and Gransbery.
The third quarter was the strongest for Fallon as the Greenwave put up 17 points to Douglas' 20, including a perfect 8-for-8 performance from the line.
Douglas clamped back down on defense to outscore the Greenwave 17-4 in the final quarter to cruise to the win.
Fallon got some strong play from point guard Brian Perkins, who scored eight points and navigated Douglas' presses and traps quite well.
Jared Floyd tied Perkins for the team lead in scoring with eight and Alex Rodriguez scored six points off the bench, including a 4-of-4 performance from the line.
For Douglas, Kevin Emm scored eight points, McLaughlin scored seven, Joe Nady put up five, Laird and Ross Bertolone each scored four and Ryan McPeek, Brandon Bernard and Whalin each scored two.
Douglas is outscoring its opponents by an average of 78-51 through the first four games, and Olson, Gransbery and McLaughlin are averaging double figures.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
