Marist zones out Carmel

In the second quarter of the Carmel-Marist boys basketball game on Friday night, the ninth-grader in Carmel's lineup was just standing around on the basketball court.

No, Kimahri Wilson wasn't loafing. He'd just decided to hold the ball for awhile as Carmel (5-2) figured out the Marist zone defense.

Carmel's biggest early lead of the game came late in the opening quarter in Mundelein. On a Johnny Roeser bucket, it was 13-8 Carmel. The Corsairs lead

was still intact at 41-38 early in the fourth quarter.

But those 14 offensive rebounds - they were a major reason Marist rallied to win the East Suburban Catholic Conference opener 52-48.

"We gave up too many rebounds,'' said Wilson. "They weren't that much bigger than us, but we did not box out."

Wilson landed a 3-pointer and went a promising 7-for-7 from the free throw line for his 10 points.

"He's special,'' said Carmel coach Zack Ryan. "I know he has a long ways to go. But he's also a great teammate. He's a great athlete."

Marist had a special athlete of its own. By the time the 6-foot-5 Jack Ellison fouled out, he had already registered a double double (14 points, 10 rebounds).

Marist, one of the teams favored to win the ESCC crown this winter, opened up a 46-41 lead with just more than two minutes to play.

A half-minute later, this game was knotted at 46-46. Carmel senior Zion Kilpatrick (11 points) nailed a 3-pointer and Wilson calmly dropped in a pair of free throws for the tie.

"We played well,'' Ryan noted. "We just have to rebound better. We haven't seen a lot of zones this year, but that's probably my fault. We are disappointed with the loss but there is still a lot of good things to take from this game.''

Carmel's boisterous student crowd came alive when Wilson landed his lone field goal, a 3 halfway through the second quarter. The Carmel lead was 18-12.

The Redhawks got hot behind the scoring of Morgan Taylor (16 points) and trailed 20-19 halftime.

"We were too passive in the first half,'' Wilson said.

Damone Williams-Gray (9 points) nailed a 3 to give the Corsairs some breathing room late in the third quarter. Carmel was up 37-33 heading to the fourth quarter.

Marist could have claimed it was rusty coming into the contest. The Redhawks had not played since Thanksgiving.

Roeser led a balanced attack with 12 points. He had a late look at a 3, but it was just long. He also chipped in with 6 rebounds.

"Marist is a long and athletic,'' Ryan said. "They were just more aggressive when it counted."