Tez Allen drives the lane for a basket against North Valleys last season.
It was all over in a matter of 3-plus minutes.
That’s how long it took Carson High to bolt to an 11-0 lead en route to an easy 66-49 win over North Valleys in the first round of the NIAA Division I playoffs Tuesday night at Morse Burley Gym.
The win sends Carson, 17-7 overall, into a Thursday semifinal battle at 5:30 p.m. against Bishop Manogue, a 53-51 winner over Reed. Carson swept the season series against the Miners.
Carson showed tremendous balance, putting four players into double figures — Jayden DeJoseph 13, Tez Allen and Asa Carter 12 and Kyle Steele 10. The fifth starter, Cameron Price, added nine. The 66 points was the third-highest CHS has scored this season.
After Carson’s quick start, the closest North Valleys got was five points, and that was in the first quarter. The final three quarters Carson’s lead was between eight and 24 points. A lot of the baskets Carson scored came off fast breaks, as North Valleys did a poor job getting back on defense, something Carson coach Carlos Mendeguia noticed in his film study.
“We talked about coming out fast, and dictating the tempo from the start,” Carson coach Carlos Mendeguia said. “Their 4 and 5 guys like to crash the boards, and we knew if we could get the rebounds we’d have a chance for some run outs.”
Allen was the recipient of two of those fast-break layups, and he had another shot inside the key, all during the 11-0 run. He and Price combined for Carson’s first 11 points.
“We were able to get out in transition,” Allen said. “They weren’t getting back on defense, and my teammates did a great job of getting me the ball in good places.”
North Valleys bounced back with an 8-2 run to make it 13-8, but an 11-0 run bridging the final 1:46 of the first quarter and the first 1:39 of the second quarter, gave the Senators a 24-11 lead.
Allen started the surge with a putback, DeJoseph drained two free throws and Carter finished the quarter with a layup with 2.2 left. Ian Schulz scored three quick points off the bench to start the second quarter, and then Price had a layup.
North Valleys, thanks to a trey by Josh Mea and four free throws by Tommy McGuire cut the lead to 26-18 with 1:56 left in the first half. Free throws by Jace Keema and DeJoseph plus Allen’s last points of the night made it 30-20 at the half. By all rights it should have been a bigger bulge, as Carson was 8-for-15 from the line in the first 16 minutes.
The third quarter saw the awakening of Steele, who had been mired in a shooting slump all season.
He keyed a quick 7-0 run to start the second half with a 3-pointer and a putback, and he capped a quarter-ending 11-2 run with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer. He had eight of his 10 in the third period, as Carson walked off the floor with a 52-30 lead. Keema also had a big quarter, contributing six of his seven.
Steele is a key figure, and the Senators need him to shoot well and play smart.
“It’s huge,” Mendeguia said. “The point guard is your quarterback out there. He’s a very talented player, and he has all the tools.”
“When Kyle plays well, it opens the floor for everybody else,” Allen said. “When he’s hitting that shot, teams can’t pack it in against us. We’re able to do more things offensively.”
The 3-point shooting has been a problem all year for Carson. The Senators, through 23 games, were hitting 22 percent from the 3-point range.
Increased productivity from the outside would enable Price, Allen and DeJoseph to operate more freely underneath, and open up driving lanes in the middle.
Carson played another solid defensive game, holding 6-foor-10 Octavion Corley to just three first-quarter points, though he did block a few shots.
North Valleys got 12 from McGuire and 13 from Orion Claimon, though 11 of his points came in the second half when the outcome was already decided.
