Foster, Carmel KO Foreman

Trying to salt away their boys basketball regional game at Antioch, the Carmel Corsairs missed three straight one-and-ones at the line.

Underdog Chicago Foreman grew closer to Carmel in the fourth quarter.

While Foreman brought an explosive offense to the Antioch gym, the Hornets had no answer for the Iowa State-bound football player.

Sean Foster (20 points, 16 rebounds) had a very big night for Carmel. And because of that performance, the Corsairs, will play for a regional title come Friday night.

Carmel (13-17) advanced via a 65-55 win on Tuesday night.

"Our coaches helped prepare us for this team,'' Foster said. "Foreman is a very good team and they are young, too."

This game had a slow start as both teams failed to put up a single point in the first two minutes.

Carmel's 6-foot-7 Foster scored his team's first 4 points. But the Hornets did not fall behind for long. Carmel coach Zach Ryan noted he'd watched as sophomore David Forrest scored 30 points in Foreman's win over Chicago Northside on Monday. Forrest opened his night against Carmel with a 3-pointer and finished with 15 points.

"He's very good,'' Ryan said. "And Foreman doesn't play like a 14th seed. They've played really good competition this year."

Foreman actually grabbed a short-lived lead early in the second quarter.

Carmel scoring leader CJ Duff began to tally points in the second quarter. Carmel took a 34-30 lead to halftime.

Duff found the range from 3-point land to open the third quarter. It was Carmel's best quarter of the night as the Corsairs won the period 15-9.

"We defended better in the third quarter,'' Ryan said. "Our zone defense didn't really work, but in the third quarter we got some stops."

On back-to-back hoops from Foster, the Carmel lead was comfortable at 51-36 heading to the final quarter.

On two more Duff free throws, the Carmel lead looked safe halfway through the fourth quarter.

That's when one of those Foreman seniors took over the game. Jamar Allison (14 points, 8 rebounds), scored 8 points in a row for his team, and the Carmel lead had been cut to single digits at 61-55.

And there was more concerning news for Carmel. Duff fouled out. He finished with 16 points.

Carmel held on with the help of 2 clutch free throws from John Barr (12 points).

Carmel's promising freshman guard Jonathan Roeser had 8 points and 8 rebounds.

Foster noted his club overcame several problems earlier in the year.

"For what we have been through and to be in this situation is great,'' Foster said. "It's awesome to be a part of."