Shannon Litz/Nevada Appeal
Carson High went 7 1/2 minutes of the second half without scoring a field goal, and the Senators paid a huge price for the lengthy drought.
After Carson's Chris Steele tied the game at 30 with 5:28 left in the third quarter, Galena scored 18 of the next 22 points and coasted to a 63-40 win Friday night at Morse Burley Gymnasium.
The loss dropped Carson to 3-6, while Galena improved to 2-7. Carson won't have much time to mope about this one because it visits Damonte Ranch at 3:30 p.m. today. Damonte leads fourth-place Carson by one game.
When Carson coach Bruce Barnes was asked about the field goal drought, he was quick to answer.
"We were forcing shots," he said. "We got into situations where it was 1-on-3 and we took a shot. We have to be more mature. We should be mature enough to be able to get a good look when things aren't going well.
"We got outplayed tonight. They (Galena) played hard and got to loose balls."
And that's kind of embarrassing when you consider Galena has nine underclassmen on its current roster compared to eight seniors for Carson.
"We talked at halftime about playing good fundamental basketball," Galena coach Tom Maurer said. "It's the first time in league that we controlled the tempo. We executed to a T."
That's an understatement. Once Galena got a comfortable lead, it started to milk the clock, and when Carson had to foul the Grizzlies made Carson pay. Galena went 19-for-22 from the charity stripe in the final 16 minutes, including 15-for-17 in the final quarter.
Maurer admitted he was worried when Steele, who led Carson with 15 points, drained four straight at the line to open the second half and give the Senators a 28-27 lead. Corey Smith's 3-pointer gave the Grizzlies a 30-28 lead, but Steele tied it with 5:28 left.
That's when things went south for the Senators, and that's when Galena senior Brooks Kern got it going.
Kern, who finished with 12 points, scored Galena's next nine points in a 3 1/2-minute span as the Grizzlies built a 39-31 lead with 2:01 left. Galena would hold a 44-34 lead entering the final period.
"We had a team meeting on Tuesday, and Brooks stood up and said he didn't want to be the first team (since 1997) not to make the playoffs," Maurer said. "Brooks has been playing well, the best of the seniors. Nate Hosmer (12 points) is starting to come around."
A layup by Carlos Carrillo and nice drive by Steele cut Galena's lead to 47-38 with 5:32 left in the game.
Galena closed out the game with a 16-2 run thanks to seven points from Blake Shively, five of which came from the line. Trey Jensen scored Carson's last points with 2:16 left in the game. In two different stretches in the fourth quarter, the Senators went more than five minutes without a point.
Carson went 5-for-21 from the field in the second half.
With seven games left to play, each contest gets bigger and bigger. A sweep over Damonte would be big because of a potential tie-breaker situation.
"Every win now is huge," Barnes said. "We only have three league wins and something has to give. We have to take care of our own business.
"There are a couple of big games out there. We have to get somebody they (Galena and Damonte) didn't or beat Damonte twice."
