Antioch steps up against Carmel
It was officially five points in seven seconds.
Antioch senior guard Trevor Koch is a captain and leader of the Sequoits. And he played that role down the stretch on Friday night in Antioch. On two free throws from freshman Johnny Roeser, the Carmel Catholic lead was 51-47 with four minutes to play in regulation.
Koch drained a key 3-pointer to give the Sequoits the lead back. And just as quickly, he made a steal and layup.
Antioch (12-14) will make the trek to the Ridgewood sectional, as the No. 8 seed stunned third-seeded Carmel 57-56 in a Class 3A Antioch regional final.
It didn't look to be much a contest early. On a Koch drive to the hoop, the Antioch lead was 7-0. Antioch forward Reece Eldridge drilled a 3-pointer to beat the first-quarter buzzer and put his team up 18-9.
"We wanted to come out strong," Koch said. "We really got up on them."
Carmel (13-18) has some stars of its own, and on back-to-back 3-pointers from C.J. Duff (game-high 25 points) and Lukas Galdoni, the Corsairs erased the Antioch lead late in the second quarter.
"We knew they would punch us back," Antioch guard Kyle Gofron said.
Gofron finished with 18 points, including his own personal 6-0 run in the third quarter.
The contest was knotted at halftime, 29-29. On Duff's 3-pointer, Carmel had pulled within a single point heading to the fourth quarter. Carmel's last quarter of the season was completely dominated by the senior Duff and Roeser, who kept on driving to the basket. His burst helped the Corsairs grab the 51-47 lead. Antioch recovered, helped along by a three-point play from point guard Danny Brito (6 points).
Antioch coach Jim White pointed out his club is 12-8 with Brito in the lineup and 0-6 without him due to injuries.
Koch's performance down the stretch was impressive.
"I knew I had to step up for my team," Koch said. "I kind of got locked in."
Antioch guard Logan Weber scored 5 points and collared 11 rebounds, including 5 on the offensive boards in the first half, for the undersized Sequoits.
"I knew I had to box out," Weber said. "We knew this game would be a game of runs. Everybody contributed at the right time tonight."
Koch noted the home crowd helped out in this victory.
"We had 50 more fans here because we were at home," Koch said. "The fans were great."