By RICHIE HALL
Reporter Sports Editor
A hot-shooting night gave the Carmel boys basketball team a big all-county win on Saturday.
The Greyhounds beat Westfield 73-31 at The Rock. Carmel’s offense got going in the first half and would eventually turn a 14-6 first-quarter lead into a 54-14 third-quarter advantage.
“We shot the ball well,” said Greyhounds coach Ryan Osborn. “For us right now, we got to allow our defense to roll into our offense. And I think when we’re getting stops and pushing the ball a little bit, flowing into offense, the rhythm shots come. And we’ve been talking a little bit the last couple weeks about movement, screening bodies on offense and getting good shots for each other. And I thought we did that tonight.”
Carmel led 17-8 after the first quarter, with Luke Heady, Andrew Owens and Cole Jenkins all making 3-pointers. Heady opened the second period with back-to-back triples, then Owens and Alex Jackson added one 3-pointer each late in the quarter.
The ‘Hounds used another 9-0 run to jump ahead 63-18 late in the third. John Michael Mulloy made a traditional three-point play, then later scored on a layin. By the fourth quarter, Carmel’s bench was on the floor; Connor Wemhoff added six points.
Four Greyhounds reached double figures. Owens scored 17 points, Mulloy added 12, while Heady and Karsten Windlan both scored 11. Owens and Heady each finished with three 3-pointers.
Owens reached double-double status by pulling 10 rebounds. Mulloy collected eight boards and Jenkins grabbed six. Jenkins also made four steals, while Jackson had two blocked shots.
Zach Banks scored 12 points for the Shamrocks, with Michael Koza corralling eight rebounds.
“We had the ball and then we turn it over, and they hit the 35-footer,” said Westfield coach Shane Sumpter, referring to a long-range Cole Jenkins ‘3’ that he made at the first-quarter buzzer. “The whole game went south from there.”
Carmel finished the game with 10 3-pointers. Sumpter also said that the Greyhounds’ defense took his team out of things the Shamrocks wanted to do.
“We obviously didn’t play well tonight and they did,” said Sumpter.
The Greyhounds are now 7-3 and play at Cathedral on Wednesday. Westfield is 4-5 and hosts Hamilton Southeastern on Friday as part of a girl-boy Hoosier Crossroads Conference doubleheader.
