Short-handed Carson boys no match for Spanish Springs

Spanish Springs invaded Morse Burley Gym Tuesday night as the prohibitive favorite in Northern Nevada 4A boys basketball.

And, the short-handed Carson Senators could do nothing to stop them.

The winless Senators, playing without Jayden DeJoseph and Geraet Rauh, turned the ball over a whopping 24 times leading to 32 points and a 66-41 loss to Spanish Springs in an early Northern Nevada 4A showdown.

“We just weren’t ready for this type of game,” said Carson coach Carlos Mendeguia, who watched his team fall to 0-4. “They have the returning MVP (Marcus Loadholt) and Jalen Townsell (two D-1 prospects). They are the No.1 team and they played like it.

“The good thing is that we have eight days before our next game (Dec. 15 at Reed). We’re averaging 20 turnovers a game, so we need to clean up our half-court execution.”

DeJoseph is a solid double-figure scorer, and nobody will be happier to see him back than Tez Allen, who has had to shoulder the load. Allen scored 19 points and battled until Mendeguia pulled him with about 3 1/2 minutes left in the contest. He was noticeably exhausted as he left the floor.

Spanish Springs coach Kyle Penny acknowledged Carson wasn’t the same team he normally would have seen.

“For sure, Carson played without one of the best players in the region,” Penny said. “We didn’t talk about DeJoseph not playing. We knew it of course, and the kids are all friends. We knew that Tez would be their go-to guy, and he still kicked our rears out there.”

Indeed. Allen is Carson’s only legitimate threat offensively. Trent Robison has given CHS a little bit of offense, and he needs to continue to do that even when DeJoseph returns.

Carson was unable to match the physicality or intensity of the Cougars from the outset. The Senators were bumped around quite a bit, and they were unable to deal with it. The Cougars scored 10 of the game’s first 13 points, half of those coming after Carson turned the ball over.

Townsell had five quick points to start the game, and Bryce DeLong rattled home a 3-ball to give the Cougars a 10-3 lead. Dawson Lamb scored in the key and Allen scored to make it 10-7. The Cougars scored 11 of the next 13 to make it 20-9 after one.

“It was important to get off to a quick start,” Penny said. “They play hard, and we had to match that. They are a well-coached team.”

A three-point play by Allen and a bucket by Robison cut the deficit to 21-14, but Spanish Springs scored 15 of the next 19 en route to a 36-18 lead at the half.

The deficit never got lower than 16 the entire second half. Carson couldn’t get enough stops to cut into the lead.

Loadholt (16 points) started the surge with a jump shot, Josh Prizina added a bucket and Justus Eaglesmith knocked down two free throws to make it 27-16 with 4:27 left in the half.

After a Sevon Mandoki putback ended the drought, the Cougars went on a 9-2 half-ending run over the final three minutes. Townsell had six of the nine and Loadholt had the other three.

“They play pressure defense and shoot the 3-ball well,” Mendeguia said.

“They have a good inside-outside game.”