Carson boys no match for Manogue

Only a couple of days removed from handing South Tahoe a 38-point drubbing on its home floor, the Carson Senators had the tables turned on them by league-leading Bishop Manogue.

The Senators, who dropped to 5-4 in league, coughed up the ball 21 times which led to 23 points en route to an 85-41 loss to the Miners in a Sierra League boys basketball game Tuesday night at Morse Burley Gymnasium.

Carson, which is fighting for a playoff berth, travels to Wooster Friday night in a must-win game. How the Senators will react against Wooster is anybody's guess.

"They just got embarrassed on their home floor," Carson coach Bruce Barnes said. "If that doesn't leave them with a chip on their shoulder, I don't know what would.

"I thought we were prepared to play tonight. Obviously I didn't do my job preparing and the kids didn't do their job. Manogue, when it shoots like that is extremely tough. We didn't take care of the ball. I think we gave up 12 points on turnover the first quarter alone."

The first eight minutes was one of the ugliest in recent memories, as the Miners outscored Carson 20-2 in the final 4 minutes 31 seconds to take a 30-6 lead.

Leading 10-4, Manogue went on an 8-0 run, as Alex Hargrove (12 points) followed in a Niles Lujan miss and then Keith Feutsch (13 points) drained back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 18-4. Carson got two free throws from Uriel Duran in the midst of a 12-2 Manogue run, which featured four points from Brennan Hogan (11 total), five from Lujan (12 total) and a 3-pointer from Bobby Hunter (19).

Carson went 2-for-8 from the field and turned the ball over eight times, as the Miners' perimeter defense was tremendous. Manogue was on fire offensively, going 12-for-17 from the floor, including six 3-pointers.

"Their perimeter defense had our guards (Matt Rutledge, Brian Barnes, Kalvin Case) locked up," Barnes said. "They were switching like we knew they were going to do. Their defense makes you play faster than you want. They are very quick-handed and take the ball out of your hands."

Manogue stayed hot in the second quarter, going 7-for-10 from the floor en route to a 48-15 lead at the intermission. The Miners went 19-for-27 shooting, while Carson went 4-for-14.

"I was happier in the first half then I have been the last two or three games,"

Manogue coach Bill Ballinger said. "We had a lot more defensive intensity. Every kid helped each other out. We just seemed to be in sync tonight.

"They played hard. They are hard to beat when they shoot like that."

The closest Carson got in the third quarter was 27 points, 55-28 and 60-33. The Senators got strong play from Case, who scored all nine of his points at the outset of the third period, and center Patrick Smith, who scored seven of his team-high 14 in that same span.

"He (Smith) was active," Barnes said. "We couldn't give him any help on the perimeter which would have given him a chance to shine more."

- Contact Darrell Moody at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com, or 881-1281.