By CRAIG ADKINS
In a series that has developed to be one of the better rivalries in Hamilton County in recent years, the Carmel-Hamilton Southeastern boys basketball teams found numerous ways on Friday night to show why they’ll be two of the favorites in a few weeks to win the Class 4A Sectional 8 tournament at Noblesville.
Carmel had its largest lead of the night at 24-16 in the second quarter, but Hamilton Southeastern defended its home court on Friday night with a come from behind 58-51 victory over the visiting Greyhounds.
The Royals were able to grab their first lead of the game when Chaz Birchfield snagged an offensive board and dropped in a turnaround jumper at 10-9. Birchfield scored six in the period to give HSE a 13-9 edge.
The Greyhounds climbed their way back into the game with 3-point shooting that would propel them back in the lead.
Karsten Windlan closed the gap to one with a ‘3.’ Eddie Gill sank one from the left corner for a 15-13 lead. Nick Bowman put HSE back in front briefly 16-15.
Alex Jackson came off of the Carmel bench and canned two straight from outside the arc and Jalen Whack added another for the largest lead at 24-16, forcing to burn a time out with 2:51 until halftime.
“We lost some things, some transitions, things like that. That’s the resolve our guys have had this year and I think it’s been special for us all year long, that we didn’t panic trying to some of that type of stuff,” said Hamilton Southeastern head coach Brian Satterfield on his team’s overall play of Friday night against Carmel.
A pair of Cole Jenkins free throws would be the difference for Carmel, as they would take a 26-25 slight edge into the halftime.
The lead would swing back and forth a couple more times in the third.
HSE opened up the second half with an alley-oop from Noah Smith to Aaron Etherington for a power dunk and the Royals on top 27-26. Carmel would answer right back with a trey from Luke Heady and it was 29-27. Etherington tied it 29-29 on a reverse layup.
Heady sank another 3-point bomb that helped jump start Carmel’s biggest scoring quarter of the night. The Hounds got their lead back to seven twice in the period, but that just fueled the Royals charge back.
Hamilton Southeastern knew what they had to do and that was find every way possible to come out on top and avoid losing their second consecutive game.
“That’s one thing that’s been special about this group. We keep getting better about not letting things bother us,” said Satterfield on his team’s play that helped them stage the comeback to eventually win.
Southeastern had a little momentum push in the final seconds of the third, as Nick Bowman stole a pass and raced to the far end and showed off his vertical, elevating for a dunk to ignite the HSE student body. That dunk narrowed the Carmel lead to 44-40 after three quarters.
Slowly, but surely, Hamilton Southeastern chipped away at the Greyhounds’ lead.
All night long, it seemed to be the combination of Etherington, Bowman and Birchfield that would make the Royals go.
HSE would take the lead once again on an Etherington pull up three from the left wing for a 48-46 advantage and the Royals wouldn’t give up the lead again.
Carmel called a timeout with 4:32 left. The first play out of the huddle, John Michael Mulloy lofted up a ‘3’ to cut the Royals lead to 50-49.
In the fourth quarter, Southeastern was able to really grab ahold of the rebounding advantage and it became the problem down the stretch that kept Carmel from making a comeback of their own late in the game. HSE out-rebounded Carmel 33-19.
“They had some key offensive rebounds. We got some stops, we missed the front end of a one-and-one twice. I think we missed another free throw late in the fourth quarter and we gave up some offensive rebounds,” said Carmel head coach Ryan Osborn on how his team gave way late in Friday night’s loss at Hamilton Southeastern.
The Royals went on an 8-2 run in the final minute to secure the home court win over Carmel, 58-51.
“We were off balance a little bit, out of tempo and they made the plays,” said Osborn on his team’s play in the fourth.
This turned out to be the great game that was anticipated and could also become a preview of a possible sectional championship match-up in a few weeks.
The Greyhounds were led by John Michael Mulloy’s 17 points, while Luke Heady added eight.
Carmel (12-6) will look to bounce back on Saturday when they host Fort Wayne Carroll (15-2).
The Royals were led in scoring by a trio in double-digits. Aaron Etherington led with 17, Nick Bowman had 16 and Chaz Birchfield pitched in with 13.
Hamilton Southeastern (17-3) heads to Westfield (7-10) in Hoosier Crossroads Conference play on Saturday to try to sweep the weekend.
Southeastern 58, Carmel 51
Carmel FG FT TP PF
Andrew Owens 1-4 0-0 3 2
Luke Heady 3-6 0-2 8 4
John Michael Mulloy6-12 4-4 17 4
Cole Jenkins 1-4 2-2 4 2
Eddie Gill 1-3 2-2 5 4
Karsten Windlan 2-3 0-1 5 2
Alex Jackson 2-2 0-0 6 1
Jalen Whack 1-1 0-0 3 2
Ben Frische 0-0 0-0 0 1
Jackson Jannsen 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 17-35 8-11 51 22
Carmel 3-point shooting (9-19) Heady 2-5, Jackson 2-2, Owens 1-3, Gill 1-2, Windlan 1-2, Mulloy 1-2, Whack 1-1, Jenkins 0-2.
Carmel rebounds (18) Owens 5, Jenkins 3, Heady 3, Gill 2, Jackson 2, Mulloy 2, Windlan 1.
Southeastern FG FT TP PF
Chaz Birchfield 6-13 1-3 13 1
Nick Bowman 5-9 4-4 16 3
Aaron Etherington 6-8 3-6 17 2
Noah Smith 1-5 1-4 3 4
Mabor Majak 2-5 3-6 7 3
Chris Grubbs 1-3 0-0 2 2
Kole Hornbuckle 0-0 0-0 0 0
Bradley Beemon 0-0 0-0 0 1
Totals 21-43 12-23 58 16
Southeastern 3-point shooting (4-8) Bowman 2-4, Etherington 2-3, Smith 0-1.
Southeastern rebounds (33) Birchfield 9, Etherington 6, Majak 4, Bowman 1, Hornbuckle 1, Smith 1, team 11.
Score by Quarters
Carmel 9 17 18 7 – 51
Southeastern 13 12 15 18 – 58