Tez Allen
RENO — Carson basketball coach Carlos Mendeguia readily admits he hates to play at Wooster.
The Colts always seem to give the Senators all they can handle, and that was the case Friday night at Craig Congdon Gym.
Carson, led by Jayden DeJoseph’s 19 second-half points, needed an 11-0 run at the outset of the fourth quarter to take control of the game and grab a 67-50 Sierra League win.
The victory gives Carson an 8-2 4A record, 4-0 against Sierra League opponents. Carson hosts Douglas Tuesday at 7 p.m.
“They are a tough, scrappy team,” Mendeguia said. “They always play us well here. We talked about starting strong out of the gate which we did when we scored the first 11. Then we got complacent.”
And, let the Colts back in the game. The killer instinct was definitely lacking much to Mendeguia’s chagrin.
Lanky Ben Ginn torched Carson for 19 first-half points, as the Colts made up the early 11-point deficit and took a 31-28 lead on a three-point play by Ginn with 1:18 left in the half. It took a half-ending buzzer beater by Tez Allen (19 points) for Carson to go into the locker room with a 32-31 lead.
“We didn’t do a good job of getting out on shooters,” Mendeguia said. “We didn’t defend well. We put Tez on Ginn the second half (instead of having him guard Mister Smith).
“He’s stronger and longer than a 6-1 guard. Tez can give anybody problems.”
The move paid huge dividends, as Ginn had three second-half buckets, all in the third quarter. His final basket of the game came with 3:51 left in the third. It gave Wooster its last lead of the game, 41-39. The game was tied at 43, but after that it was all Carson.
“I think Tez did a good job (on Ginn),” Wooster coach Jose Parra said. “He is one of the best players in the North.”
“Normally Mister Smith is their shooter which is why I was on him (to start),” Allen said. “They switched me in the second half to put more pressure on him (Ginn). I just got up on him, and he was looking to pass first.”
Brandon Gagnon snapped the 43-all tie with a shot from the baseline, and DeJoseph drained two free throws to make it 47-43 after three. DeJoseph knocked down a season-best 15 of 17 from the charity stripe en route to a 27-point effort.
DeJoseph keyed the early fourth-quarter surge with four quick points to make it 51-43 with 6:46 left in the contest. After Allen drained two free throws, DeJoseph had a basket and two more free throws to make it 57-43. Geraet Rauh capped the run with a free throws.
After a basket and free throw by Smith, Allen had a three-point play and two free throws, and DeJoseph added two more free throws to make it 65-46 with 1:57 left.
“The fourth quarter we started to get into a good flow,” DeJoseph said. “We started to hit the openings. I tried to attack more, and they were fouling me all the time.”
“Jayden had a good offensive night,” Mendeguia said. “He needs to help at both ends of the floor. In the first half, he lost his man a few times. The second half he did a much better job.”
While Carson had a happy drive back to Carson after a successful road sweep, Parra was disappointed.
“We’re inexperienced,” he said. “This has happened a lot to us this year. We play people tough like we usually do, but we’re unable to finish. We are struggling to finish games.”
