By RICHIE HALL
CARMEL – After a tough win at Center Grove on Friday, Carmel went back home to the Eric Clark Activity Center on Saturday to face a fellow unbeaten team in Westfield.
The Class 4A No. 2 Greyhounds got the upper hand early, and never looked back in beating the 4A No. 5 Shamrocks 54-30. It was Westfield’s first loss of the year, while Carmel is now 10-0.
The ‘Hounds never trailed and the game was only tied once, at 2-2 early in the first quarter. Charlie Williams opened the game with a basket for Carmel, then the Shamrocks’ Braden Smith scored on a floater.
Brian Waddell hit a 3-pointer to give the Greyhounds a 5-2 lead, and they were in front for the duration of the game. Westfield was still within 9-8 around the midpoint of the quarter, but Carmel finished the period with three straight triples – Sam Orme, Connor Gioia and Waddell all threw in 3s to give the ‘Hounds an 18-8 advantage at the end of one.
“We talk about our trying to get our defense to help us with the offensive tempo,” said Greyhounds coach Ryan Osborn. “And so I feel like when we’re playing better defensively, our shot selection is better and our aggressiveness is a little bit better. We hit some shots, but I felt like it was fueled by just being locked in defensively.”
Waddell opened the second quarter with a jumper to put Carmel up 20-8. Benji Welch interrupted the Greyhounds’ run with a 3, but Carmel skipped off on a 9-0 stretch after that. Waddell scored five points, including his third triple of the game.
Carmel led 31-16 at halftime. Westfield got within 33-23 with 3:06 left in the third; Nic Depasquale scored off a Smith rebound, then cut the lead to 10 with a basket from a steal. Cam Haffner helped out too, scoring eight points in the second and third period.
The Greyhounds were up 38-25 after three periods, but Smith opened the fourth with a basket to get Westfield within 11. Osborn called a timeout, and Carmel finished the game strong, outscoring the ‘Rocks 16-3.
“You can’t be a team that relaxes when you get a little bit of a lead,” said Osborn. “Don’t be known as the team that is really good when things are going well, but not very good when you hit some challenges.”
Waddell led all scorers with 17 points, while Gioia and Orme both scored eight. Peter Suder collected five rebounds and Gioia handed out four assists. Carmel had eight offensive rebounds in the game.
“First of all, we just gave up way too many rebounds, even to start the game,” said Shamrocks coach Shane Sumpter. “We talked about the key to the game, and we just gave up too many offensive rebounds. You can’t give a team like Carmel second and third shot opportunities, and it seemed like that was pretty consistent throughout the night.”
Haffner scored 12 points for Westfield, with Smith collecting four rebounds.
“Things just didn’t go our way,” said Shamrocks coach Shane Sumpter. “We’ll move on and it’s not the end of the world that we lost a basketball game, and we’ll come back in next week and try to get better.”
Carmel hosts Cathedral on Wednesday, while Westfield, now 8-1, plays at Hamilton Southeastern on Friday.
CARMEL 54, WESTFIELD 30
Westfield FG FT TP PF
Braden Smith 3-9 1-2 7 3
Benji Welch 1-3 0-2 3 0
Matthew Penley 0-4 0-0 0 3
Cam Haffner 4-7 2-2 12 3
Nic Depasquale 4-7 0-2 8 1
Kai Butterworth 0-2 0-1 0 2
Luke Naas 0-0 0-0 0 0
Trey Dorton 0-0 0-0 0 0
Luke Van Dyke 0-0 0-0 0 0
Alex Romack 0-0 0-0 0 1
Totals 12-32 3-9 30 13
Westfield 3-point shooting (3-9) Haffner 2-2, Welch 1-2, Smith 0-3, Penley 0-1, Butterworth 0-1.
Westfield rebounds (13) Smith 4, Depasquale 3, Penley 2, Butterworth 2, Haffner 1, Romack 1.
Carmel FG FT TP PF
Connor Gioia 3-4 1-2 8 2
Peter Suder 2-6 1-2 5 2
Brian Waddell 7-10 0-0 17 4
Bryce Beery 1-1 0-0 2 1
Charlie Williams 3-6 1-2 7 2
Sam Orme 3-7 0-0 8 0
Wil Leary 2-4 1-1 5 1
Nick Frische 0-1 0-0 0 0
Spencer White 0-0 0-0 0 0
Burke Weldy 0-0 2-2 2 2
Totals 21-39 6-9 54 14
Carmel 3-point shooting (6-14) Waddell 3-5, Orme 2-6, Gioia 1-2, Leary 0-1.
Carmel rebounds (26) Suder 5, Waddell 4, Orme 4, Williams 4, Beery 3, Gioia 2, Frische 2, Weldy 1, Leary 1.
Score by Quarters
Westfield 8 8 9 5 – 30
Carmel 18 13 7 16 – 54