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Nick Johnson, ‘Cats prevail in battle of top prep guards

Arizona Sports News online

The Nick Johnson-Jahii Carson advanced billing lived up to the hype Saturday afternoon in Tempe as Johnson’s Arizona Wildcats pulled away in the second half and cruised to a 71-54 win over Carson’s Arizona State Sun Devils.

The former Arizona prep stars who played on the same Arizona Stars AAU team as nine-year olds faced off for the first time at the collegiate level as Johnson’s ‘Cats improved to 16-1, 4-1 in Pac-12 play.

The former Gilbert Highland High/Las Vegas Findlay Prep standout hurt the Devils from inside and out scoring 19 points on 7-13 shooting, including 2-3 from behind the arc. The Mesa High Jackrabbit Carson, saddled with foul trouble much of the game, led the Devils (14-4, 3-2) in points (22) and assists (4).

Johnson’s play certainly caught the attention of ASU head coach Herb Sendek.

“He’s a terrific player,” Sendek explained. “He’s so explosive off the dribble, he’s so athletic and they did a good job of going to him on dribble [isolations].”

The Wildcats victory also served as a bit of revenge after the Carson-less Sun Devils upset UofA in the regular season finale last year at Wells Fargo Arena.

After the game both players seemed to downplay the match-up.

“I really wasn’t worried about him,” the redshirt freshman Carson said. “He’s a friend of mine, but come game time I wasn’t worried about him. I wanted to cut his head off and I’m sure he wanted to cut off mine.”

Johnson said he and Carson talked a little bit on the floor, but winning the game was his number one focus, as well.

“After the game I just told him to keep it up,” the sophomore said. “We’re both from the same area so I want him to do well.”

Carson and the Devils will look to even the score when they travel to Tucson for the rematch on March 9th.

A Valley native, Eric has had a passion for the Arizona sports scene since an early age. He has covered some of the biggest events including Super Bowls, national championships and the NBA and MLB playoffs in his near 20 years in local media.

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