Carmel stays close before Marist pulls away
Regardless of the situation the Carmel boys basketball team is facing with its current short-handed roster, the Corsairs' belief they can win every game they play still has not changed.
Friday night in an East Suburban Catholic Conference contest with visiting Marist, the Corsairs' belief was very real. For the first two-plus quarters, the hosts gave the visiting Redhawks all they wanted and then some.
But Carmel hit the wall in the later stages of the third quarter and eventually fell to Marist 61-47.
“I still go into every game thinking we should win,” said Carmel coach Zach Ryan. “I thought we let this one get away in the second half. We are 0-3 in the league, but we have led at halftime of every one of those games so we need to close out our opportunities better.”
Carmel (7-8, 0-3) battled back from a second-quarter deficit to take a 27-26 halftime lead. Part of the rally included a 14-4 run that was capped by a long 3-pointer from Zion Kilpatrick with 2:21 to go in the half. From there, Marist decided to burn clock due in part to foul trouble.
The Redhawks held the ball for the last 2:21 and did not get off a shot.
“We looked at the clock and our foul trouble situation and decided that we wanted to get the game to halftime,” said Marist coach Gene Nolan. “We knew if we got the game to halftime and protected the players with fouls, we could be more aggressive in the third quarter.”
Marist (14-3, 2-1) was very aggressive in the third quarter, taking virtually every possession to the basket. Though they traded the lead with Carmel over the first half of the quarter, it was a burst sparked by senior Kevin Larma that put the game away for Marist.
Larma put back one of his 5 offensive rebounds, then continued the run with a long 3 to spark a 12-3 Redhawks run that put the game away. Larma netted 24 points to lead all scorers.
“It's mental toughness for us that makes the difference,” said Carmel senior Matt Stephens, who finished with 11 points. “We have to have that mental toughness and keep pushing no matter if we are up or down.”
Stephens hit one of his three 3s early in the third quarter to cut the Marist lead to 49-42 with 5:18 to go, but the Redhawks started another run of their own that finished off the Corsairs.
“We knew we had to keep the lead and try and build on it because Marist will slow you down and get into a stall,” Ryan said. “We have put in a lot of different defenses and are trying a bunch of things but in the end I believe we still have a good basketball team and there are good things ahead for us.”
Western Illinois-bound senior CJ Duff battled through double and triple teams most of the night but still managed to put up 15 points and 8 rebounds to lead Carmel. Chamer Hawkins also hit double figures for Marist, scoring 11 of his 17 points after halftime.
“I give a lot of credit to Carmel,” Nolan said. “They guard you, they can score, they are hard to guard and for us to come here and win on the road is a good win for us.”