Carson High Guard Joey Summers drives past a Galena defender during the NIAA Northern Division 4A game between the Galena Grizzlies and Carson Senators at Carson High School.
Galena put together a 22-3 run from the beginning of the second quarter to the 5:47 mark of the third, taking a 31-16 edge in the process on its way to a 49-35 win over Carson boys basketball Friday night.
The Senators have been held under 40 points three times this season, two of which have been at the hands of the Grizzlies after Galena bested Carson 62-28 in their first matchup.
Carson once again jumped out to a quick start Friday evening, putting together an early 11-4 lead behind a few quick offensive series and a steal for a layup by Parsa Hadjighasemi.
Galena knocked down a 3-pointer in the corner before the end of the first quarter to cut the gap to two, 11-9.
Will Breeding had the first basket of the second quarter, earning an and-one opportunity after grabbing an offensive rebound and putting the ball back in the cylinder.
However, it was the Grizzlies 22-3 run that followed Breeding’s bucket and took the air out of the Senator crowd.
The Grizzlies played a high-pressure man-to-man defense, but mixed in a zone look or two and kept Carson on its heels most of the night.
“They do a good job of being more aggressive with our guards,” said Carson head coach Jordan Glover. “They just get after it and they’re long.”
Defense wasn’t a one-sided affair as Carson put the clamps down in the third and fourth quarters keeping Galena to five points over nearly a seven-minute stretch.
In doing so, the Senators chipped away at the Galena lead, getting as close as 40-31 with under five minutes to go in the contest.
Brandon Graunke poked a steal loose and found Gage Mills for an easy layup that made it a nine-point game, but Galena settled back in.
Isaac Wood knocked down a triple and a pair of free throws to make it 45-31 Galena, where it sat for the next two minutes.
The quick starts followed by dry spells has been semi-consistent for the Senators and Glover thinks his guys just have to learn to play with the ebbs and flows of basketball.
“We execute our game plan so perfectly in the first quarter then in the second quarter we have to do the same thing again,” said Glover. “I think we put pressure on ourselves to repeat it. … We don’t respond well enough to it, yet.”
Offense was the biggest learning point for the head coach, who stated after the game the lack of ball movement and fluidity wasn’t typical of Carson and caused, in part, due to Grizzly pressure.
Late in the fourth quarter, Carson guard Joey Summers went down with an ankle injury, but Glover said after the game he doesn’t think it’ll hold the junior out of any action.
“It looked bad at first, but we think he will be alright,” said Glover.
UP NEXT: Carson (9-12, 2-4) will get back into Sierra League play Tuesday evening when the Senators will host Bishop Manogue (16-5, 6-0).
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