MINDEN - After two weeks of play, Carson High basketball coach Carlos Mendeguia has seen some good and bad things about his inexperienced basketball squad.
"We're getting on the glass a little better," Mendeguia said after Carson's 46-35 win over South Tahoe at the Carson Valley Classic on Saturday. "To win games, we're going to have to rebound and play defense.
"With our lack of experience, we don't have the killer instinct yet. We don't know how to put teams away. We still aren't as patient on offense as I'd like."
Case in point. Carson led by as many as 12 points twice in the first half and 13 in the second half. In each case, the Senators were unable to build on that lead mainly because of turnovers.
Carson scored nine of the game's first 11 points in the first three minutes of the contest, but went 1-for-4 from the floor and turned the ball over three times in the final five minutes of the period and led 12-5.
Carson had a 21-9 lead with 4:14 left in the half, but Bobby Perez hit a trey and a basket in a span of 10 seconds to make it 21-14. Two free throws by Dylan Sawyers, a layup by Logan Krupp and a 3-pointer by Matt Nolan (10 points) boosted the lead back up to double digits (28-17.)
Jacob Stowell, who hurt the Senators at the Capital Classic, scored two inside buckets and had nine in the quarter to make it 30-21 at the half. Stowell did a nice job on the offensive glass against Carson's 2-3 zone defense. He did a nice job of finding the gap and getting his hands on a lot of balls.
"He was our focal point defensively," Mendeguia said. "He didn't score in the second half. I thought Dylan did a good job on him defensively. I told Dylan not to worry about the height advantage Stowell had. I think some of those points came when Dylan wasn't even on the floor in the second quarter."
Carson played both man and zone, but it appears that the Senators are little better in a 2-3 than they are in a man-to-man, though Mendeguia said he will let the match-up dictate what defense he runs.
"I think we are a zone team," he said. "I think we can be pretty effective zone team. I have us in man-to-man sometimes to see if it can get us going. We'll mix it up all season."
The third quarter saw inept offense on both sides. Carson scored just six points with five turnovers and went 1-for-9 from the floor. The Senators didn't score a point in the final 3 minutes 20 seconds, but still led 36-25 after three.
Fortunately for Carson, South Tahoe wasn't any better. The Vikings scored four points, turned the ball over five times and went 1-8 from the floor. South Tahoe went scoreless over the final 2:30.
"It got pretty sloppy at the end of the third quarter," Mendeguia said. "We were impatient and turned the ball over."
South Tahoe coach Chris Proctor said scoring droughts have been common for his young team, which is now 1-5. It's become a confidence thing for his team.
"We're working on execution now," Proctor said. "We only scored 25 points against Douglas. Our goal is to take more shots, and I think we did a good job of that today."
The Vikings' defense is ahead of the offense right now, which enables South Tahoe to stay in most games.
South Tahoe cut the lead to 38-31 with 4:10 left on baskets by Cale Backinger and Brandon Cramer plus two free throws by John Cefalu. A basket and free throw by Rafe King (12 points) got the lead back to double digits with 1:51 left.
Carson, 3-4, plays at Damonte Ranch on Tuesday.
