Saint Viator holds off Carmel
It all came down to the fourth quarter when host Saint Viator met Carmel Catholic in an East Suburban Catholic Conference boys basketball game Tuesday night.
The visiting Corsairs took a 46-45 lead on a free throw by Asher Jackson with 5:44 to play. But the Lions would take the lead for keeps on a 3-pointer by Dillon Schmidt 19 seconds later, and they never looked back in this very competitive seesaw battle.
Saint Viator (4-2, 3-2) outscored Carmel 14-6 the rest of the way en route to a 62-54 victory as the Lions outscored the Corsairs 21-14 in the final quarter.
"I was happy with how hard our guys played, and they seemed to hit more timely big shots than we did," said Carmel coach Zack Ryan. "We had a lot of good looks we just didn't make, and we couldn't quite extend the lead."
Trailing 11-6 early in the second quarter, the Corsairs (4-8, 3-3) went on a 14-1 run as their offense really came alive in that period. But by halftime, the contest had turned into a classic dogfight with Carmel clinging to a 24-23 lead.
Senior Aidan Harrington was one of the big difference makers for the Lions as he scored 13 of his game-high 22 points in the first half while sophomore teammate Eli Aldana was also impressive with 14 points from his point-guard position.
"We started getting stops in the defensive end and that led to some easy layups," said Harrington. "Coach (Michael O'Keeffe) came in and fired us up at halftime, and we played some good defense in the second half."
Junior Bryce Moore led Carmel's offense with a team-high 19 points while teammates Jalen Burton (14 points), and Jackson (10 points) also hit double figures in scoring.
The Lions got 9 points from R.J. Gamble followed by Connor Benson with 8 points, and Schmidt with 7 points. Coby Brame had 5 points for the Corsairs.
A huge turnover with 31 seconds to play, and a missed 3-pointer eight seconds later sealed Carmel's fate as the Lions put the game away at the foul line.
"We had a good second half offensively and it always helps when Aidan Harrington is knocking down shots," O'Keeffe said. "Zack (Ryan) has done a great job year by year building that program and whenever we can beat a team as athletic as Carmel that is good."