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Deerfield hangs on against Carmel

Playing with a short bench is tough to begin with.

Add in a break-neck pace and a huge deficit to overcome and the numbers games becomes an even bigger challenge.

That was the dilemma Carmel faced on Saturday at Deerfield.

The Corsairs have been playing short-handed all season, thanks in part to a disciplinary situation around the holidays that wiped five players from the roster.

Earlier this week, Carmel lost starting guard Zion Kilpatrick for the rest of the season when he broke his ankle in practice.

And yet, with just seven players, Carmel nearly stole a win from Deerfield, which saw a 19-point fourth-quarter lead nearly disappear.

The host Warriors held on to get a 91-87 nonconference win over Carmel. Deerfield, which reached its season-high in points, improves to 23-3 overall and Carmel drops to 12-13.

"For having the shortest bench we've had all year, the guys played their hearts out," Carmel coach Zack Ryan said. "If there's another minute there, maybe we win.

"It's just how these guys have been all season. There's no quit. They just keep fighting. We're always talking about controlling what we can control and that's our attitude and how hard we play and our effort. That's been outstanding all season.

"It comes down to being in shape, especially when you have only six or seven guys. It's about fighting through adversity and it helps when the shots start falling."

Shots started falling like crazy for Carmel early in the fourth quarter. Carmel entered the period down by 19 points (68-49), but scored 12 unanswered points to cut its deficit to 68-61 with about six minutes remaining.

"I give Carmel a ton of credit to play six or seven guys and play with that kind of mental toughness. They were still going at the end," Deerfield coach Dan McKendrick said. "I think they did a really good job of attacking the basket. It felt like they just lived at the free throw line in the fourth quarter. We weren't very smart about putting our hands on people. I thought they had a smart game plan for the fourth quarter. Let's just get to the basket and get to the line."

Carmel was 12-for-14 at the free throw line in the fourth quarter. Senior guard CJ Duff, who finished with a game-high 27 points, was 5-of-7 from the line in the fourth quarter.

The Corsairs also got 21 points out of freshman forward Johnny Roeser as well as 15 points from senior Sean Foster and 13 points from guard John Barr.

"We just came together at the end and that's all that matters," Roeser said. "We're short-handed so every little bit helps a lot. I was just trying to help out the seniors because they've been there for me."

Deerfield, which has been averaging about 65 points per game over the last month, put five players in double-figures.

Jordan Baum and Jeremy Sernick each had a team-high 19 points. Ben Bizar had 17 points and Alex Casieri and Noah Deutsch had 13 and 12 points respectively.

"We can put some points on the board," McKendrick said. "We just have a number of different players who have the skill set to make a basket. We can spread it around. I've got kids who come off the bench who can score and we have a lot of guys who if they are open are confident to take the shot."

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