Chalk one up for the defense.
Douglas held Carson to just four first-half field goals and a 30 percent
mark overall, but still had to fight off a last-ditch rally by the Senators
to secure a 42-37 win before a packed house at Morse Burley Gym.
The teams finished the season tied at 11-3, but Douglas is awarded
second-place because it won the second meeting between the schools. The win
earned the Tigers a home playoff game against McQueen Tuesday night. Carson,
meanwhile, will visit Hug, the second-place High Desert squad, also on
Tuesday.
Douglas coach Corey Thacker was quick to praise his team¹s defensive effort.
The Tigers held Carson to 30 percent shooting, and they limited the
effectiveness of Carson¹s top offensive players, Andrew Johnson (1-for-4
from the field) and Brian Barnes (1-for-13), to a combined six points.
"Defense is what increased our lead tonight," Thacker said. "Our (main)
focus was on Johnson. He gets other people to score. He's the motor for
their offense. I think he leaked out a couple of times and scored. Brian is
a great shooter. He was another guy we wanted to take away. He had one of
his off nights."
Douglas, as expected pressured the perimeter heavily, making it tough for
Carson to get anything going on offense until the fourth quarter.
"We had a very poor shooting night," Carson coach Bruce Barnes acknowledged.
"Our shooting percentage was obviously atrocious and their defense had
something to do with it. I thought we got shots, but they were right in our
face all night.
"Andrew didn't get many shots. They were able to take him out of his game.
It was a good experience for him to have to go through. I thought our
defense played hard. We had a chance to tie it at the end. That says a lot
about the guys that went in."
Barnes was referring to his team's 10-4 run in the final 1 minute 47 seconds
of the game. Carson did it with mostly second-stringers in the game, and it
also helped that Douglas went 3-for-11 from the line in the second half,
including just 3-for-6 in the fourth quarter.
Austin Neddenriep gave the Tigers a 38-27 lead with 2:09 left on a nice
drive to the basket. Douglas went scoreless for nearly 90 seconds, and
Carson ran off eight straight points to make it 38-35 with 42.9 remaining.
Pat Smith who scored 15 points and pulled down 11 rebounds, started the
surge with a three-point play. After a Douglas turnover, Ean Witter was
fouled going to the basket and made one of two. Douglas turned the ball over
again and Smith knocked down two free throws. Kevin Kurek made his biggest
play of the season. As Douglas tried to get the ball inside, Kurek leaped
and batted the ball in the air. He came down with it and scored on a lay-up
to complete the barrage.
"Kevin flies around," Barnes said. "He's quicker than some of our starters."
Jorey Scott ended the drought with a lay-up to make it 40-35. Johnson was
fouled beyond the 3-point arc and made two of his shots to make it 40-37
with 23.5 left. Douglas, which was 5-for-17 from the line, opened the door
when Brett Anderson missed two free throws with 21.3 left.
Witter was called for walking and Neddenriep iced the game with two free throws as the
Senators were forced to foul.
"We have to knock down free throws," Thacker said. "We were lucky to get
away with it tonight. Toward the end we panicked a lot. That is something we
can fix."
The Tigers' first-half play needed no fixing.
Matt Thomas scored eight of his team-high 10 points in the opening quarter
as Douglas bolted to an 11-3 lead. Carson went 0-for-8 from the field,
scoring all of its points from the line.
A 9-2 run in the first three minutes of the second quarter increased the
lead to 20-5. Anderson hit a trey from the top of the key. Douglas kept up
the pressure and went into the locker room with a 24-11 lead.
"I was most proud of the kids because they kept rebounding the ball at the
defensive end; kept blocking out," Thacker said. "I think Carson got two
offensive rebounds the whole first half."
