Carson boys basketball pummel Wooster

  RENO -- The Carson Senators boys basketball team certainly wasn't shy Friday night.

  "I told our guys that they needed to attack the basket," Senators coach Bruce Barnes said after a convincing 68-47 victory over the Wooster Colts on the road. "The last few games we've relied too much on our jumpshot. We needed to come in here and attack the basket and be aggressive."

  The Senators asserted themselves from the opening tip against the Colts and never trailed, improving to 6-4 in the Sierra League. Wooster dropped to 0-11 in league play.

  "We needed to lick our wounds a little bit after our last game (a loss to the Bishop Manogue Miners)," Barnes said. "We needed a game like this. Our next few games are very important. We couldn't come in here and stumble."

  It was Brian Barnes who set the tone early for the Senators, scoring nine points in the first quarter on his way to a game-high 22 points. Barnes did most of his damage doing exactly what his coach wanted, attacking the basket. He hit two short jumpers in the lane as the Senators took a 7-2 lead and drove the lane for a layup and a 13-4 lead.

  "Brian attacked it hard," Carson's Paul Cagle said. "By doing that he opened up a lot of things for the rest of us because (Wooster) had to guard him closely."

  Ian Gunn had a pair of 3-pointers in the second quarter, giving the Senators leads of 19-9 and 24-11. Cagle, who finished with 17 points, had a layup for a 26-11 lead, Ean Witter scored in close off the glass for a 28-11 lead and Kalvin Case hit a jumper for a 30-12 lead.

  "We just executed and ran our offense," Cagle said. "That's all."

  The Senators outscored the Colts 11-2 over the first three minutes of the third quarter to take a 41-17 lead. Brian Barnes hit a short jumper and had a layup, Case had a layup off a nice feed from Steven Fowzer and Patrick Smith had a pair of layups as the Senators offense shredded the Colts.

  Wooster, though, did go on a 9-0 run midway through the third quarter to cut the Senators' lead to 41-26. A Colton Sims' 3-pointer got the Colts rolling.

  Wooster then cut the Senators lead to 58-44 with three minutes to play. The Colts' got five 3-pointers in the fourth quarter -- three by Cody Griffith -- to keep the score respectable. The fifth Wooster 3-pointer of the quarter came at the buzzer by Sims. Wooster hit 7-of-12 shots in the fourth quarter after making just 9-of-37 (24 percent) over the first three quarters.

  The Senators shot 22-of-48 (46 percent) for the game.

  "It was a good win for us," Barnes said. "We were able to play a lot of guys (nine Senators scored)."

  Cagle scored nine points in the fourth quarter to make sure all of those Wooster 3-pointers didn't hurt. The senior did most of his damage inside but he also hit a 3-pointer for a 52-31 lead with 5:20 to play. Cagle also converted all four of his free throws in the final quarter.

  "He's a tough matchup for people," said Barnes of Cagle.

  Cagle was just happy to contribute to the victory.

  "Those points just came in our normal offense," Cagle said. "We noticed they were leaving the middle open and I was just able to get underneath. I'm not going to force any shots but if I'm open I'll take it."

  The Senators will also obviously take the victory.

  "We have a big one Tuesday (at Carson) against Damonte Ranch," Cagle said. "We have to keep this going."

  "Every game is big for every team now," Barnes said.