By RICHIE HALL
CARMEL – As the regular season draws to a close this week, it’s safe to call the Carmel boys basketball team the Turnaround Hounds.
Carmel finished regular season play on a winning note Tuesday, beating Crispus Attucks 49-37 at the Eric Clark Activity Center. The Greyhounds, ranked No. 17 in the IBCA coaches poll, got out to a fast start against the Tigers, who are No. 7 in both the IBCA ratings and the Associated Press Class 4A list.
The momentum from the opening quarter carried Carmel through to its third consecutive victory and an 8-1 record over its last nine games. The ‘Hounds were 4-9 less than six weeks ago but finished the regular season at 12-10.
“They’ve grown up a lot,” said Carmel coach Ryan Osborn. “And give them credit because it wasn’t easy.” The Greyhounds played the No. 1-ranked schedule according to the Sagarin ratings, and Osborn said “there wasn’t a night to take off.”
“They never stopped being hungry,” said Osborn. “That’s hard to do when you’ve got a losing record and you’re looking at the schedule and you got all these really good highly-ranked teams coming. They embraced the challenge and proud of them for how hard they played up to this point.”
Carmel never trailed against Attucks. Ben Bremer opened the scoring with a 3-pointer, beginning a 19-4 quarter for the Greyhounds. Alex Couto drained two 3s during the period, Quinn Murphy had one, and Evan Harrell took over the game with a personal 7-0 run – he hit a triple as well.
“This group is super dedicated to defense,” said Couto. “No one cares how much you put up whatever night as long as we’re getting defensive stops and we’re sharing the ball on offense.”
Carmel stayed in front for the entirety of the next three quarters. The Tigers got within 23-15 late in the second quarter, but Harrell made a layin to keep the Greyhounds’ lead at double digits going into halftime at 25-15.
Couto sent in his third 3 of the game to start the third quarter, which helped give Carmel a cushion as Attucks went on an 8-0 run, which Couto ended by draining another triple. The Tigers got as close as 31-27 late in the third and were still within 35-29 going into the fourth quarter.
The Greyhounds started the fourth with a 7-0 run, a Clevenger layin followed by a 3 and a layin from Couto. Carmel kept its lead in double figures after that.
Couto finished the game with 20 points, including six 3-pointers. Harrell scored 13 and pulled nine rebounds. Clevenger and Bremer both dished out five assists.
Carmel takes on Fishers next Tuesday in the first round of Class 4A Sectional 8 at Noblesville.
CARMEL 49, CRISPUS ATTUCKS 37
Carmel FG FT TP PF
Alex Couto 7-13 0-0 20 1
Ryan Clevenger 3-8 2-2 8 1
Aiden Dickerson 0-1 0-0 0 2
Ben Bremer 1-3 2-2 5 0
Evan Harrell 4-9 4-4 13 3
Quinn Murphy 1-3 0-0 3 2
Mitchell Mulloy 0-0 0-2 0 0
Max Winders 0-1 0-0 0 1
Owen Huber 0-1 0-0 0 0
Totals 16-39 8-10 49 10
Score by Quarters
Crispus Attucks 4 11 14 8 – 37
Carmel 19 6 10 14 – 49
Carmel 3-point shooting (9-19) Couto 6-11, Murphy 1-2, Harrell 1-2, Bremer 1-1, Clevenger 0-1, Dickerson 0-1, Huber 0-1.
Carmel rebounds (26) Harrell 9, Couto 4, Clevenger 4, Mulloy 4, Dickerson 2, Bremer 2, Murphy 1.