Carson boys fall against Reno

RENO — The staples of the Carson High basketball program have been defensive intensity and half-court execution.

Those two things were nowhere to be found Friday night. In fact, the Reno Huskies outperformed the Senators in both of those categories.

Reno forced 19 turnovers and held the Senators to a 32 percent mark from the field en route to an easy 49-35 4A crossover win Friday night.

Carson fell to 2-2 in league, and will start play in San Diego next week. Reno improved to 3-1, and is off until after the first of the year.

“I thought we got beat in every aspect of the game,” CHS coach Carlos Mendeguia said. “The game was embarrassing. The one thing we could always hang our hat on was our defense (intensity). We usually don’t let anybody win that battle.

“They were getting every 50-50 ball. We got outplayed and outhustled.”

And, it was that way from the outset. Reno set its sights on Tez Allen (10 points) and Jayden DeJoseph (13), and for the most part the strategy worked.

Everywhere Allen went, he had a couple of guys on him, and he struggled to finish at the basket. DeJoseph had a couple of 3s, but he wasn’t his potent self.

The Huskies built their lead to 24-9, but Carson closed and trailed 29-19 at the half. The Senators went 5-for-8 from the field.

“That was probably our best defensive game of the season,” Reno coach Matt Ochs said. “Our zone rotations were very good. Tez (Allen) is a monster on the glass, and he and Jayden (DeJoseph) are Player of the Year type guys. Carlos (Mendeguia) runs stuff that is difficult to stop.

“Last year in the playoffs, they were able to hold onto the ball. We stressed trying to make it hard for them to hold the ball (by pressuring out high).”

Carson doesn’t have the ballhandlers it had last year, and that had to be noticeable to the plethora of league head coaches who were in attendance and got a free look at both teams

The offense lacked the crispness it had shown in wins over Reed and Hug.

Meanwhile, Carson had trouble with Drew Rippingham, who had eight of his 15 points in the first quarter. Rippingham, a catch and shoot guy, got some open looks and made CHS pay. He’s a guy you have to deny the ball, and the Senators didn’t do that.

“He’s one of our senior captains, and he puts a lot of work in,” Ochs said. “I can’t tell you how many times I open the gym for him at 6:30 a.m.”

What momentum Carson built up in the second quarter dissipated in the third quarter when it turned the ball over four consecutive times, and Rippingham leaked out for a lay-up and Tommy Challis drove the lane for a lay-up to make it 33-19. DeJoseph drove to the basket, and after a Reno miss, Sevon Mandoki dropped in a 3-pointer to get the lead to single digits.

That didn’t last long as Reno scored five straight to make it 38-24. A three, a deuce and a free throw by Allen made it 40-30 after three.

Rippingham led a 9-2 run in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter to make it 49-32 with 4:06 remaining. Carson pulled its starters with about 2 1/2 minutes left in the contest.

The biggest issue facing Carson right now is teams are going to gang up on Allen and DeJoseph until somebody steps up.

“Nobody has stepped up,” Mendeguia said. “We need somebody to be the third go-to guy. Tez and Jayden get frustrated and try to do too much.”

Fallon edges Dayton in OT

DAYTON – Despite 23 points and 11 rebounds from J.J. Ply and 15 points, three rebounds and four steals by Trevor Burrows, the Dust Devils dropped a 59-58 thriller Thursday night.

Dayton had opportunities to win, but chances by Ply and Burrows failed.

Dayton went a season-best 24-for-35 on shots inside the 3-point line. Brenden Thomas finished with 11 points and four rebounds while Carson Crosby added nine points and six rebounds.