This one didn't stay close for long.
The Douglas boys' basketball team came off an absolute thumping of the Carson Senators Tuesday night and picked up right where left off Friday night against Tahoe.
The Tigers ran off a 16-2 run to open the game and the Vikings were never really able to get into it after that as Douglas picked up a 62-43 win in a game it led by as much as 33 at one point.
"It was disappointing that we finished the game the way we did, but for the most part it was a good night for us," Douglas coach Rob Streeter said.
With all reserves on the floor to finish the game, Douglas allowed South Tahoe to finish with a 12-2 run highlighted by two 3-pointers from K.J. Allister.
"We staggered to the end of the game there, and granted it was our reserves, but we really wanted to be able to finish better than that and carry some momentum into tomorrow's game against Hug," Streeter said. "It was good to get those guys some minutes, and it was good to rest the starters, but we needed to finish better than that."
Outside of that, there was little that went wrong for the Tigers.
Perhaps most impressive was that Douglas was able to put up the big win despite getting just two points from standout center Keith Olson. In total, 10 of the 12 players suited up for the Tigers put points on the board and two finished in double figures as Jeff Nady scored 16 points and Mike Gransbery had 12.
"Keith did some other great things for us tonight," Streeter said. "He had five rebounds, a couple assists and a couple blocks.
"He's still the main focus of what we are trying to do, but this week we really challenged our guards to get better. Keith is aware of that and a game like we have tomorrrow against Hug will be a test of that."
As such, it was the guards that got things going for Douglas Friday night.
Gransbery opened the game with a basket and Olson came back down with a reverse layup for the early 4-0 lead. Senior Jared Trowbridge, getting his first start of the season, then slashed through the lane for two consecutive layups to give Douglas the early 8-2 lead.
"I was just trying to get in a rhythm early and the shots fell," said Trowbridge, who is normally a player that likes to distribute the ball more than shoot it.
"Jared came out and was attacking the basket," Streeter said. "That's when he's at his best, we're always pushing him to go north-south."
Gransbery followed with a pair of 3-pointers and eight of Douglas' next 10 points and Joe Nady, one of Douglas' top players of the bench this year, sandwiched a basket in between.
"Everyone on this team knows what they need to do every night," Nady said. "No one is out there just jacking up 3-pointers or trying to take the game over themselves.
"If you're a big, you play like a big and if you're a guard, you play like a guard."
Douglas pushed the lead to 32-19 by the end of the first half and put the game completely away in the first two minutes of the third quarter, running off a 9-0 run to extend the lead to 41-19.
All nine points of the run came from Jeff Nady and he had Douglas' first 12 points of the second half. Joe Nady then hit a 3-pointer, giving Douglas an all-Nady 15-5 run.
"These last two games were kind of out of the norm for us," Streeter said. "We played well and when we do that, we'll pose a lot of problems to anyone in the league.
"But we have to be able to play well for 32 minutes, we'll have to do that against Hug. We're really look forward to it."
For its part, Tahoe made a run near the end of the game, with Allister's late fireworks. He finished the night with a game-high 17 points and Vince Capellino finished with 15 points.
For Douglas (13-6, 4-1) James McLaughlin finished with nine points, Ryan McPeek had six, Joe Nady finished with five, Ross Bertelone and Trowbridge each had four and Olson, David Laird and Brandon Bernard each finished with two points.
"I was very happy with the way Ross stepped up and competed tonight," Streeter said. "He did extremely well pushing through their press."
Next up for Douglas is No.2-ranked Hug today (Saturday) at 5 p.m.
The Douglas girls' basketball team got 32 points out of its twin post threats in a 53-21 win over South Tahoe Friday night to improve to 2-3 in league play.
Senior Dana Pardee led all scorers with 17 points and Jessica Waggoner had 15 to lead the Tigers to the win.
Kaela Horse and Dany Heidt each scored five, Bridget Maestretti had four and Gina Pfaffenberger and Lisa Christen each scored two to complete Douglas' scoring on the night.
Defensively, Douglas (8-12 overall), allowed just seven field goals on the night.
"What we were able to do well was we got the girls rotating back and getting into the lanes tonight," Christen said. "Having Dana (Pardee missed the last month with a leg injury) has been a tremendous boost to this team."
Douglas got off to a 7-3 start and South Tahoe was never able to get any closer as Douglas pulled away with a 15-5 second quarter.
