Late run pushes Reno boys basketball past Carson High

One run late in the third quarter and early into the fourth downed Carson High boys basketball Friday night.

The Reno Huskies pieced together an 11-0 run, including a buzzer-beating basket at the end of the third quarter on their way to a 57-43 win.

Carson trailed 42-38 with 49.5 seconds left in the third quarter, following Joey Summers draining both ends of a one-and-one at the free throw line.

From that point on, Reno held the Senators to just five points.

After Drue Worthen’s buzzer-beater, Reno started the final quarter with an eight-point lead, 46-38.

Two baskets in the paint sandwiched around a Worthen triple from the wing pushed Reno’s lead out to 53-38 with 5:03 left to play.

“I think I could have called a timeout earlier and bailed us out, calmed us down,” said Carson head coach Jordan Glover. “I think some of it’s on me.

“I think all the hustle plays they got today and they took away our two guys,” said Glover, referring to the Senators’ two leading scorers Joey Summers and Parsa Hadjighasemi.

The duo combined for 20 points on the night with 15 of those coming in the first half.

The next step in Glover’s mind is for the Senators to find that third and fourth option when needed.

“Bless my team for believing in our players, but we rely on them sometimes too much,” said Glover. “We need to look at those other options when they’re taken away. Most teams will probably take away those two guys.”

Nathan Smothers scored nine points for the Senators while Max Wood posted eight points in the loss.

Early blows

It was Carson who threw the first punch Friday night.

The Senators fell behind 6-2 in the first few minutes before mounting a 10-0 run to jump in front 12-6 after Hadjighasemi hit two 3-pointers in front of the visiting student section.

The sophomore combo guard then caught a backdoor pass from Nathan Smothers for a layup before sinking another triple from the corner after pump-faking a defender.

Hadjighasemi scored all 11 of his points on the night in that short span in the first quarter.

Smothers dished out another assist to Wood for an interior basket as Carson led 19-13 after a quarter of play.

“We came out and punched them in the mouth early and they knew that,” said Glover. “Their intensity outmatched ours for the rest of the game.”

Reno responded in the second quarter by outscoring Carson 18-6, taking a 31-25 lead into the halftime intermission.

The third quarter remained tight as both teams traded blows.

Brandon ‘Sunshine’ Graunke buried a corner 3-pointer off an assist from Smothers to bring Carson within four, 32-28.

Smothers hit a triple of his own to keep Carson within five points, but the 11-0 run by the Huskies served as the final dagger on the night.

“I think this should be a game that gets us back to reality. We had won four in a row and blasted about three teams,” said Glover. “We were feeling good about ourselves. … We understand that we need to get better and this game is going to make us better.”

UP NEXT: Carson (7-8) will head to Galena (9-3) Tuesday to open up Sierra League play against the Grizzlies.