The Douglas Tigers jumped up on the Carson Senators early and withstood a trio of determined rallies - one in the first and two in the second half - to take a 60-51 victory at Morse Burley Gym on Monday.
And behind the first-half sharpshooting of junior James McLaughlin, who scored all 16 of his points in that span, and the dominance of 6-foot-8 senior center Jeff Nady, who scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half, the Tigers moved to 12-6 overall and set up a first-place showdown with Reno on Friday by remaining unbeaten at 4-0 in the Sierra League.
Carson fell to 1-3 in league, 8-9 overall.
"Anytime you play Carson, it's a close game," Nady said. "It's just how this rivalry works. They're a solid squad. They had runs. I thought we controlled the first half and in the second half they came out fired up and ready to play and we held our lead."
It was a pretty accurate summary by Nady.
Douglas took an early 11-4 lead behind five points (including a 3-pointer) by McLaughlin, four points by David Laird (who finished with 12 points) and an layup to open the scoring by Nady.
The Senators took their only lead of the game on an 8-0 run, featuring a Brian Barnes putback, a Caleb Carter layup, a Rob Valerius layup and a 17-footer by Carter, making it 12-11 with 2 minutes, 28 seconds left in the first quarter.
But the bigger Tigers were also more physical and accurate with their shooting. After holding an 18-12 lead to open the second quarter, Douglas took off on a 9-4 run - capped by a McLaughlin three - to take a 27-16 lead with 3:20 left in the half.
McLaughlin nailed another trey to give the Tigers their largest lead at that point - 32-20 - and Carson would only threaten twice more.
"Our guards were able to knock down some big-time shots," Nady said. "McLaughlin teed off with (four) threes in the (first half). They double-teamed me all night, which left our shooters open."
When Carson tried to remedy that situation, Nady went wild on the inside.
"After James gave us a boost in the first half, knocking down shots, I thought we got a little stagnant with our big guys, getting to them down inside," Douglas coach Corey Thacker said. "In the second half, we got down inside with David and Jeff. We did a great job of swinging it to all parts of the court."
Douglas held a 36-23 lead at the half and opened up the third quarter with an 11-2 run to take a 17-point lead at 42-25.
Carson got back into it, going on a 12-0 run, in which Carter scored four points (including a 3-pointer), Zach Rispin four (including a trey), and a 3-pointer by Matt Rutledge, who didn't start the third quarter because he had lost a contact lens.
"We did a good job of closing the gap (42-35), but it seemed like every loose ball on the floor went the wrong way," Carson coach Bruce Barnes said. "We got into foul trouble - David Eller fouled out and had three or four fouls early. We didn't have many reserves with size. They had a 6-8 guy in the middle (Nady). That's a problem when your center is sitting next to you."
A Brian Barnes layup would get the Senators as close as they would come the rest of the way - 54-47 - and Douglas built the lead to 60-47 on four points by Drew Hamlett and two by Nady to take an insurmountable lead.
"I thought our kids kept a cool head," Thacker said. "We didn't let them make us panic."
Up next for Douglas is a home game against unbeaten Reno Friday at 7 p.m. Carson will host Wooster at the same time Friday.
"We're in the same boat; we can't lose that game at home," Barnes said. "With people shooting at Douglas, Reno and Hug, we have to stay with everyone else."
