By CRAIG ADKINS
Westfield was content with slowing down the tempo of their first round game with Carmel and it almost resulted in an upset of the Greyhounds.
It was a valiant effort by the Shamrocks, but their effort came up short on Tuesday night at The Mill in Noblesville, as Carmel found the ways and pulled out the win over Westfield, 33-24.
Believe it or not, it was 4-2 Carmel at the end of the first and 14-4 Greyhounds at halftime.
That helped Westfield stage a huge bounce-back third quarter that would bring the crowd to their feet. The Shamrocks started off the second half on a 10-0 run that would force Carmel to call a timeout with 4:27 on the clock in the third.
“I thought that the game actually through that time went as planned,” said Westfield head coach Shane Sumpter on how his game plan was working.
“They hit some shots and I thought they started to get in the lane a little bit and I thought out guys did a good job of just sticking with it,” said Carmel head coach Ryan Osborn on Westfield’s third quarter push and his team’s reaction.
Zach Banks and Chris Chin combined for the final six points of the third for Westfield and they would take the lead 20-19 late in the period on Chin’s driving layup of the 6’10 Butler commit John Michael Mulloy.
Eddie Gill would get fouled shooting a three in the final seconds of the quarter, making all three free throws to get Carmel back in the lead, which they would keep for the rest of the night.
“Our whole game plan was that we wanted to give ourselves the chance to win the game in the fourth quarter and we did that,” said Sumpter on his team’s great game plan that didn’t fully pan out.
The tempo of the game had an effect on Carmel’s offense as a whole and it was pretty obvious. The Greyhounds are usually able to score many more points and were held to 33 in a win.
“They did a good job. They controlled the game, made it a shorter game and possessions were at a premium,” said Osborn on Westfield slowing down the tempo on Tuesday night.
The Greyhounds outscored the Shamrocks 11-4 in the final quarter to outlast Westfield, advancing to the second semi-final on Friday night with a 33-24 win.
Westfield’s season came to a close at 10-13. They were led in scoring by Chris Chin’s eight and Zach Banks with seven.
Carmel (16-7) will play Hamilton Southeastern (17-7) in the second game on Friday night in a rematch of a game from Feb. 9, when the Royals won at home, 58-51.
The Greyhounds were led by John Michael Mulloy’s 16 points.
Carmel 33, Westfield 24
Westfield FG FT TP PF
Zach Banks 3-4 0-1 7 1
Josh Van Dyke 2-4 0-0 4 3
Caleb Welch 1-3 0-0 3 3
Camden Simons 0-3 0-0 0 5
Chris Chin 4-6 0-0 8 5
Garrett Pollard 0-0 2-2 2 0
Jack Reinoehl 0-1 0-0 0 0
Benji Welch 0-0 0-0 0 1
Totals 10-21 2-3 24 18
Westfield 3-point shooting (2-6) C. Welch 1-2, Banks 1-1, Simons 0-2, Van Dyke 0-1.
Westfield rebounds (11) C. Welch 3, Banks 2, Chin 2, Simons 2, Van Dyke 1, Pollard 1.
Carmel FG FT TP PF
John Michael Mulloy 4-5 7-9 16 1
Cole Jenkins 1-4 2-3 4 3
Eddie Gill 0-4 5-8 5 2
Andrew Owens 3-6 0-0 6 2
Jalen Whack 1-1 0-0 2 0
Luke Heady 0-4 0-0 0 3
Totals 9-24 14-20 33 11
Carmel 3-point shooting (1-6) Mulloy 1-1, Heady 1-3, Jenkins 0-1, Gill 0-1.
Carmel rebounds (20) Mulloy 6, Gill 5, Owens 4, Jenkins 2, Heady 2, Whack 1.
Score by Quarters
Westfield 2 2 16 4 – 24
Carmel 4 10 8 11 – 33
ABOVE: Carmel’s Andrew Owens Is guarded by Westfield’s Zach Banks during the Greyhounds-Shamrocks sectional game Tuesday at Noblesville.
BELOW: John Michael Mulloy scored 16 points for Carmel. (Kent Graham)
