Carmel fighting through adversity with teamwork

Injury, illness and a death in the family has caused some inconsistencies in the Carmel boys basketball lineup this season.

"Just last week was the first time this season where we finally had our entire team together," Carmel coach Zack Ryan said. "We've had people out and missing games and practices for so many reasons. It's been tough for us to get on the same page and put it all together."

Perhaps the main reason the Corsairs came out of the holidays with a 9-9 overall record in spite of all the moving parts is that three seniors stayed remarkably consistent during that stretch.

Guards Kylen Beals and Joey Halaburt and forward Joe Nalewajk have been the calm in the storm.

"Those guys have been our rocks," Ryan said. "They've been great leaders and we've been able to count on them all year."

Beals, who started last year as a junior, is the Corsairs' best defender on the perimeter.

Halaburt has filled many roles, as starter and reserve, and has been shooting the ball well this season.

Nalewajk also has started and come off the bench and is an undersized post player who rebounds well and takes pride in drawing charges.

Starting them young: Carmel coach Zack Ryan has no problem bringing up freshmen and sophomores to varsity.

In fact, some of his best players over the years have been three- and four-year varsity players, such as Johhny Roeser, who graduated last year and is now playing at Loras College in Iowa.

"To me, it doesn't matter if a kid is a freshman or a sophomore," Ryan said. "If he's good, he's going to play."

Junior point guard Kimahri Wilson, who just recently scored his 1,000th career point, also started as a freshman. He leads Carmel in scoring at 15 points per game, and already has Division I offers in the books from Wisconsin-Milwaukee, UAB and UIC.

And now sophomores Bryce Moore and Asher Jackson are both getting a lot of minutes. Moore starts and is Carmel's leading rebounder (6 rpg) and second-leading scorer (11 ppg). And Jackson is coming off a 17-point game against Marian Central and is averaging about 7 points per game.

Sometimes, young kids grabbing varsity minutes doesn't sit well with older players. Ryan says that's never seemed to be a problem at Carmel.

"We've been blessed to have had older guys over the years who are able to see that the younger guys we bring up can help us, and they don't get upset when we bring them up to varsity," Ryan said. "Freshmen and sophomores who play are taking minutes from older guys but when your older guys understand and accept that those younger kids are filling a need and helping the team, that's a really good thing and you know you have guys on your team that care about the team."

Baby, baby: It's been Baby Central for the Carmel boys basketball team lately.

Both head coach Zack Ryan and assistant coach Fidel Garcia have seen their families grow over the last couple of months.

Ryan's wife Heather gave birth to the couple's fourth child, son Jett, right before Thanksgiving and the start of the season.

And Garcia's wife Delores gave birth to their second child, son Arlo, earlier this month. In fact, Garcia got called while Carmel was at a game in Moline and he left immediately to make sure he wouldn't miss the birth.

"It's been a little crazy around our team lately," Ryan said with a laugh. "But our players have been cool with it. I think we need to plan better when we have these babies though."