Everbody knows who's going to have the ball in his hands most of the time down the stretch for the Carson High boys basketball team. But it turns out that diminuitive point guard Andrew Johnson isn't a bad defender, either.

The rap on Johnson is because of his size he has a hard time guarding bigger players and can't stay in front of them. But that wasn't the case on Friday as CHS held off Galena 44-35 at Morse Burley Gym to improve to 10-2 in the Sierra League.

"They said I couldn't stay in front of my man," said Johnson about the skeptics. "I was getting that all week." Instead, the sophomore is showing that he's developing into a solid all-around player.

And for Carson (17-7) the playoff atmosphere on Friday is something it relished. "I love that kind of game," Johnson said. "The crowd gets me pumped."

CHS will travel to Fallon for a 7 p.m. league game on Tuesday in a contest that could have no determination whatsoever on Carson's standing in league. Manogue beat Douglas on Friday as the Tigers fell to 9-3 in league.

But as long as Douglas wins its next to last league game, no matter what CHS does on Tuesday, the No. 2 seed and a first round home game in the Northern 4A playoffs will go to the winner of next Friday's contest between the arch rivals at Carson. "I can't wait for that game," Johnson said. But Johnson also stressed Carson needs to build momentum for that game on Tuesday.

CHS coach Bruce Barnes also liked Friday's atmosphere. "The schools have developed somewhat of a rivalry," said Barnes about CHS and Galena. "It's actually a good warmup for the playoffs."

Carson led 22-20 when it scored three breakaway layups to establish some breathing room in the third quarter. CHS broke Galena's press when Brian Barnes found Chris Steele breaking to the basket to give Carson a 26-20 lead. Trey Jensen then scored on a pass from Barnes to give the Senators a 28-20 lead. Jensen followed by scoring on a pass from Brennan Shaffer at the buzzer to give CHS a 30-23 lead after three quarters.

Shaffer scored on a dribble drive to give CHS a 34-27 lead. After Galena closed to within 35-31, CHS put the game awaqy at the foul line. JOhnson hit 5-of-6 free throws to give Carson a 40-35 lead and found Pat Smith inside for basket that gave the Senators a 42-35 lead. Shaffer hit two free throws for the final margin.

Carson raced out to a 7-0 lead on the strength of back-to-back three-pointers by Johnson and Barnes. Galena came back to tie the score 10-10 and trailed 16-14 in the second quarter when Johnson took over. For the second time this season, Johnson thew an inbounds pass off a Galena defender, grabbed the ball and scored to make it 18-14. Johnson went on to make a steal and a layup to give CHS a 20-14 lead at Carson settled for a 20-17 halftime lead.

"We watched film. He nver faces toward us," said Johnson about how the Galena defender had his back to the basket and him. "It worked."

"When you play them you're going to have to play in the halfcourt," said coach Barnes about the typical Galena style. "A lot of times that's what we like to do. Andrew out front, he's difficult to guard out there."

Johnson scored 17 points, Barnes had seven points and Shaffer added six points for CHS.