Carson High boys basketball | The Price is right for Senators in win over Hug

What a difference a day makes.

On Thursday, Spanish Springs crowded Cameron Price with 6-6 Jacob White, who held the normally reliable Price without a field goal.

On Friday, Hug came calling at Carson with a smaller, quicker and more athletic lineup, and Price was more than happy to take advantage of the numerous scoring opportunities.

Price scored 25 points, 23 coming in the first three quarters, to lead the Senators (2-3, 1-1) to an easy 68-39 win over the Hawks in a Division I crossover battle.

“It was definitely nice to get things going down low,” Price said. “I wanted to get going early. I got some good looks and I did all I could do to put points on the board. They didn’t have the size that Spanish Springs had.”

Carson returns to action Dec. 23 at 5 p.m. at home against Reed. The game was originally scheduled for Reed, but work on the gym was going to force the game to Mendive Junior High. Reed coach Dustin Hall offered to move the game to Carson.

“It was different styles,” Carson coach Carlos Mendeguia said about Friday’s game. “Spanish Springs was physical and Hug was athletic. We were able to exploit things inside.”

Hug scored the game’s first five points in the first 1:45, but Carson closed the quarter with a 16-3 surge to lead 16-8 after one. Price had nine in that stretch and fellow senior Kyle Steele (12 points) tossed in a 3-pointer.

The teams played on even terms throughout the second quarter, as Carson walked off the floor with a 31-22 lead.

The Senators, who got seven more points from Price in the second quarter, knocked down 11 of 16 shots from the floor in the first 16 minutes, but turned the ball over 14 times which helped keep the Hawks in the game. Hug hit just 8-for-29 from the floor, but five of those were 3-pointers, three of them by Ahmad Thomas.

Mendeguia switched to a 2-3 zone in the second half, and Carson seemed to a better job of executing at the defensive end.

The Hawks went 2-for-10 from the floor and turned the ball over six times, and that enabled Carson to take control of the game.

The Senators opened the half with a 13-2 run to open up a 44-24 lead. Price had seven more points and Steele added two more buckets.

“We adjusted and went to the 2-3 zone, and they struggled,” Mendeguia said.

Carson ended the third quarter with a 21-point bulge (49-28). The Senators quickly stretched the lead to 25, 58-33, on two free throws by Price and five straight points by Kyle Krebs plus a layup by Jace Keema. Carson closed out the game with a 9-3 run.

The Senators got some spark off the bench from Jared Rooker, who finished with nine points. He did a nice job getting to the basket and distributing the ball. He would have been in double figures save for a 3-for-7 effort at the charity stripe.

Carson was just 15 of 26 from the line.

Thomas led Hug with 19 points.