A week prior, the Douglas boys basketball team was intent simply on slowing the game down against the high-octane North Valleys offense.
Tuesday night, Tiger coach Rob Streeter was ready to speed things up in a tight game against Carson.
"It was a low-scoring game through the first quarter and we wanted to get the tempo going and really push it," Streeter said. "That worked well for us."
Indeed it did. Douglas sophomore James McLaughlin scored eight of his game-high 14 points in a 10-1 to close out the half as the Tigers ran away with a 69-37 victory in Minden.
Douglas improved to 12-6 overall and 3-1 in Sierra League play as they all but put the game away in the middle of the third quarter, leading 51-19 at one point.
"The kids played extremely hard, we won a lot of the loose ball battles and deflected a lot of passes," Streeter said. "Carson also didn't shoot the ball particularly well, but we can't count on things like that every night."
Mike Gransbery hit a 3-pointer to open the second quarter, launching a 7-0 run over the first four minutes of the quarter.
Still, the tempo wasn't quite where Streeter wanted it, so with a 17-10 lead he sent in McLaughlin to spark the lineup.
McLaughlin responded, making a nice reverse layup and sinking two consecutive 3-pointers to go on his own personal 8-1 run, putting Douglas out in front for good.
"I was pretty confident with the shots I took and they went in," McLaughlin, who was playing in his first varsity game in the Carson-Douglas rivalry, said. "It was electric out there, it was a great atmosphere. We were just looking to come in strong off of that loss to Reno."
The Tigers took complete control in the second half, getting six points from Jeff Nady to open the quarter, and a basket apiece from Gransbery and Keith Olson. It was the start of a 20-4 run that put the game completely out of reach for the Senators and caused Streeter to pull his starters off the floor.
"They're speed always presents problems for us, that and their quickness and tenacity," Streeter said. "We have a lot of respect for coach Barnes and his boys. They're always undersized and he finds ways to keep them competitive."
For Douglas, it was a balanced performance from the offense, which got 13 points from McLaughlin, 11 from Olson, and 10 each from Nady and David Laird. Gransbery finished with 9, Ryan McPeek had six and Joe Nady and Kevin Emm each had six.
Douglas won't be able to enjoy to win for long as it will travel to Carson for a rematch next Friday.
"We know that Carson will come out playing intense, especially since it will be at their house," McLaughlin said.
"They'll be ready next week," Streeter said. "They'll have a great crowd there."
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
