After his Carmel team beat Center Grove Friday night, Greyhounds coach Ryan Osborn discussed how the first month of the New Year can also be the toughest month.
“I think every year, January, it can be challenging,” said Osborn. He then listed all the challenges: It’s the middle of winter, teams are trying to get back into a routine after the break – “You’re in the dark stages of the season,” he said.
Carmel, of course, always seems to be up to whatever challenges come its way. The Greyhounds, who have returned to No. 1 in both the Associated Press Class 4A poll and the IBCA one-class poll, proved that Friday at the Eric Clark Activity Center by beating the Trojans in a superb defensive effort, 44-20. It was also a big occasion because it marked the 100th win for Osborn, in only his fifth season coaching the ‘Hounds.
Osborn said that this part of the season has been about “challening them to find out what you need to do to get better and not just coast through these two weeks. I think that’s really important. And now you have a situation where you have two starters out and Pete’s coming back from his injury.”
The Greyhounds were playing without two starters, Josh Whack and Charlie Williams, and Peter Suder is the player coming back from injury. As a result, other players had to step up and take on different roles.
“It wasn’t filling the people that we were losing, it’s just everybody’s being a little better,” said Osborn.
Carmel jumped out to a 13-1 lead after the first quarter. Sam Orme was a big part of that, as he scored nine points during that period, including a 3-pointer. After a low-scoring second quarter, the Greyhounds poured it on again in the third period, outscoring Center Grove 14-2 to take a 32-9 lead. Orme and Suder each added another five points in the third. Carmel then cruised through the fourth quarter on its way to victory, with Orme and Garwey Dual both scoring four points.
“I was proud of the way that we competed,” said Osborn. “That’s what we want to see this time of year is just compete.”
Orme led the way with a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds, also making four steals. Suder was next with eight points, while Jared Bonds had six points and two blocked shots. Dual also made two blocks.
The Greyhounds improved to 9-2 for the season. Carmel travels to Westfield tonight for a 7:30 p.m. game with the Shamrocks, who are ranked No. 3 in the IBCA poll and No. 7 in the AP’s 4A rankings.
CARMEL 44, CENTER GROVE 20
Carmel FG FT TP PF
Garwey Dual 2-3 2-2 6 4
Peter Suder 3-6 2-3 8 1
Sam Orme 7-16 3-3 18 3
Burke Weldy 1-3 0-0 2 0
Jared Bonds 3-7 0-0 6 1
Spencer White 0-2 0-0 0 3
Josh Rauh 2-3 0-0 4 2
Andrew Clevenger 0-0 0-0 0 0
Jake Griffin 0-1 0-0 0 0
Logan Reinhart 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 18-41 7-8 44 14
Score by Quarters
Center Grove 1 6 2 11 – 20
Carmel 13 5 14 12 – 44
Carmel 3-point shooting (1-13) Orme 1-7, Weldy 0-2, White 0-2, Griffin 0-1, Dual 0-1.
Carmel rebounds (29) Orme 11, Bonds 6, Dual 3, Weldy 3, White 3, Suder 2, Rauh 1.