Forget about March Madness. A Jan. 17 game between the Carson and Douglas boys basketball teams can supply all the pandemonium any fan could want.
After Douglas' Kevin Emm missed a desperation shot as time ran out, Carson High School students rushed the floor and mobbed the Senators, who took a dramatic 43-42 win over the Tigers in a Sierra League matchup Tuesday at Morse Burley Gym in Carson City.
Keith Olson's bucket put the Tigers up 42-39 with just over 30 seconds remaining in the game, but the Senators answered with what would amount to their game-winning rally.
After Carson senior guard Adam Houghton, who scored a team-high 13 points for the Senators, whittled the lead to one with his shot with 24.5 seconds, Douglas missed two free throws after being fouled at the other end.
With the clock winding down, Carson junior guard Zach Weismann made an aggressive move to the basket pay off with a layup to give the Senators their 43-42 lead with 1.7 seconds to go.
The ball was inbounded to Olson, but the Senators' Kevin Brush tipped it away. The ball bounced into the hands of the Tigers' Jordan Hadlock, who then passed it to Emm for his shot, which bounced around the rim before falling to the floor and prompting the crowd to swarm the Senators.
"It was a pretty typical Carson-Douglas match," Senators coach Bruce Barnes said. "It doesn't matter who's the better team, it always comes down to the end."
Douglas coach Rob Streeter said it was a fun game in spite of the loss.
"Give Carson credit for not folding," Streeter said. "Their kids responded."
Weismann said he was quite aware of the clock working against him when he made his move to the hoop.
"I felt the pressure," said Weismann, who finished with eight points. "I knew I had to take it up strong. I knew going up I was going to get fouled or it was going in."
The Senators had problems all night containing Olson, who had a game-high 20 points.
Olson caught fire in the second, scoring eight points, and Douglas took a 19-17 lead into the locker room at halftime.
With the game tied 25-25 heading into the final quarter, both teams pulled out all the stops.
Douglas got off first and went on a 12-5 run to give it its largest lead at 37-30, before Carson's Jake Jeffers and Weismann combined for five points to draw the Senators within two.
"(Douglas) was throwing it to the high post, so we had to take it away," Weismann said of the Senators' late defensive clampdown. "We were feeding off of our last game with Wooster (an 89-41 Carson win Friday). We just wanted to bring (the energy) to this game."
Carson improved to 8-9 overall and 2-2 in the Sierra League. With the loss, Douglas fell to 7-10, 2-2.
Douglas dropped to No. 9 in the Sierra Nevada Sports Media rankings this week and will travel to South Tahoe tonight to take on the fifth-ranked Vikings at 7 p.m.
JUNIOR VARSITY
The Tigers took advantage of a balanced scoring effort to beat Carson 41-35 Tuesday night in Carson.
Herman Fillmore led the way with 12 points, but seven other Tigers made significant offensive contributions in the game.
Ryan McPeek and James McLaughlin each scored five points and Parker Robertson, Drew Hamlett, Ross Bertelone and Drew Hughes each scored four. Ethan Gangwish scored two and Nate Imelli scored 1 to round out the total for Douglas.
