Carmel pulls off ESCC upset of Benet

What happened to his neck? A rug burn? A tough shaving accident?

And so goes the bloody battles of Carmel Catholic's Johnny Roeser.

"I bleed in every game,'' Roeser said. "My goggles are always cutting me. I don't know what happened to my neck tonight."

State-ranked Benet Academy was in town on Friday night. And the Redwings didn't know what hit them in the second quarter. Damone Williams-Gray (19 points) scored the first 6 points of the quarter for the Corsairs. Roeser matched that skill with another 6-point run.

Carmel (16-9) was blowing out Benet at halftime, 37-20.

"We had such a good start,'' Williams-Gray said. "We are a really good team when we play like that."

Benet (16-5) came back to cut the Carmel lead to 67-65 but Carmel held on for its signature win of the season, 75-69.

"That's a really good team,'' said Carmel coach Zach Ryan of Benet. "This is the first time we've beaten them since I've been here. We knew they would punch back."

Both teams had just three scorers at halftime. Roeser had 18 first-half points. Kimahri Wilson had 11 points and Williams-Gray added 8.

Carmel's lead was still a solid at 51-35 with two minutes to play in the third quarter. It was just 5 at quarter's end, 53-48.

"They were ranked 14th in the state,'' Roeser noted. "Our coach said be ready for their run. They had two really big guys. This was a huge win for our team."

Roeser led Carmel with 26 points and 7 boards. Wilson checked in with 24 points and earned a compliment from Roeser.

"Kimahri is a special player,'' he said. "I was able to score because he gave me a lot of assists. He's an amazing player."

Roeser even added some comments on Williams-Gray

"I've know Damone since the seventh grade,'' Roeser said. "He's one of my guys."

"I thought we did a good job getting to the basket,'' Ryan added. "And I liked our defense against their big guys."