RENO - First-year Carson High boys coach Carlos Mendeguia did a nice job summing up his feelings Tuesday night after yet another loss.
"I'm not into moral victories," said the fiery Mendeguia after the Senators' 45-40 loss to Bishop Manogue. "I thought we played pretty well.
"We're so inexperienced. Once we settle into the game, we're OK. They aren't used to the intensity at the varsity level. I told the kids that if we can continue to give that kind of effort we'll only get better and maybe sneak up on some teams."
At the other end, Manogue coach Bill Ballinger was just happy to get a win. It was only the Miners' fourth of the season against 13 losses.
"It's a W," he said. "Give credit to Carson. We got them down early and they battled back which is what tough basktball teams do."
Carson trailed 24-11 with less than five minutes left in the half, but Carson finished the half with an 11-0 run to pull to 24-22 at the break. Charlie Banfield came off the bench for five points in that span, while Ty Keefer added a basket. Manogue turned the ball over six times and missed the front end of two 1-on-1 free throws.
From there, the game remained close.
Carson briefly took the lead in the third quarter, 27-25, on a basket by Rafe King and a 3-pointer by Banfield sandwiched around a free throw Remy Dillard.
Manogue scored 10 of the next 13 points for a 35-30 lead with 1:35 remaining. Manogue had seven free in that stretch plus a 3-pointer by Gray Reid. Carson fought back again, scoring five straight points on baskets by Brock Pradere and Chris Lopez plus a free throw by King (14 points) to tie the game with 7:46 left.
Things went awry for the Senators, who suddenly couldn't find the bottom of the basket. They were outscored 7-0 over the next six minutes to fall behind, 42-35, with 46 seconds left, Carson was 0-for-4 with three turnovers in that stretch.
Mendeguia said fatigue could have been an issue for the Senators, who played again without Dylan Sawyers (ankle sprain). He is xpected to be out another week.
"We didn't get a lot of guys breaks; we couldn't," Mendeguia said. "That (fatigue) can lead to mistakes and bad decisions."
And on Friday against McQueen, the Senators' bench will get even shorter, as Austin Pacheco will be in Florida playing in an all-star football game which will be televised on Fox Sports-Florida on Saturday.
