Glenbook South holds off Carmel for MLK title

Carmel Catholic was ready for a challenge of facing one of the better teams in the state for the championship of the Martin Luther King Classic at Lake Zurich on Monday.

The Corsairs have played a quality schedule stayed with Glenbrook South into the fourth quarter, before falling 65-57.

Glenbrook South raised its record to 16-5. Carmel, which had won its last four games, fell to 15-9.

"I thought we played hard and didn't quit," Corsairs coach Zack Ryan said. "At the end of the day, we gave up too many offensive rebounds and too many second-chance points. (Glenbrook South) was a good team. We competed the whole time and had a shot at the end. Against a team like that, you got to finish out possessions. I thought we defended well. There are some good things to take away and some things to work on."

Kimahri Wilson led the Corsairs with 21 points coming off the bench, while Johnny Roeser added 18. Both players were named to the all tournament team.

"(Glenbrook South) executes their offense really well and we knew that coming in," Roeser said. "When people get going like that, it's hard to stop them. Props to them. They played well offensively. They gave us fits with all their screens. There were moments in the game where we could've easily folded up and quit. I'm proud of the way we fought and kept playing the whole time."

Up 31-27 at the break, Glenbrook South pushed the tempo up after halftime and took advantage in transitions. They went on a 17-7 run to extend their lead to 48-34 on Dom Martinelli's short jump shot with 22 seconds left in the third quarter.

Martinelli scored a game-high 30 points and was named the tournament MVP.

Wilson scored 5 straight points on a pair of free throws and a buzzer-beating 3-pointer that had the Corsairs down 48-39 going into the final quarter.

Kylen Beals' free throw pulled Carmel within 55-50 with 3:01 left, but GBS withstood the push down the stretch.

"Carmel was an athletic and physical team," said Glenbrook South coach Phil Ralston, who won the tournament title two years ago as the coach for Geneva. "It was almost like a war out there in the fourth quarter. Our kids did a really nice job withstanding the pressure and keeping calm. We did have a couple lapses defensively and had to change up some things. Give Carmel credit. They've got a really good team. This was one of those situations where we built a big enough lead and survived it."

Zach Carr added 16 points for the Titans.

Carmel also got 8 points from Damone Williams-Gray.

"Our schedule has been pretty good, but going against a team like Glenbrook South can only help us," Ryan said. "Our next two games are Benet and St. Viator, so we know what we have to do. We just have to get back to work with some practices under our belt. We're right there in our conference and we just want to keep going at it."