Cougars split games; Eller out
By Greg Hoffman Contributing sportswriter

The Cougars picked up their first win of the young season at home Friday against Caston, 65-51, but in the process they lost the services of their leading scorer, junior Riley Eller, who tore his ACL in the second half.

Carroll led at all stops in this one, holding a 17-12 advantage after one. Caston and Carroll played even in the second period with 18 points each so the half-time score was 35-30, Carroll. The Cougars came storming out of the locker room to start the second half and before the Comets knew what had hit them, the Cougars were up 13 points, 51-38 at the end of three. The Cougars held their lead for the win.

The Cougars put three players in double figures - Eller led the way with 15 points, Adam Tussinger had 14, Carson Spesard had 10 points and pulled down a game high 7 rebounds, and Jacob Craig had 9 points and 5 rebounds. Brad Benson had a good floor game, handing out 6 assists and grabbing 3 steals.

Saturday night at home, the visiting Lewis Cass Kings (3- 0) soundly defeated the Cougars 48-27. Without Eller, the Cougars looked lost on the offensive end. They had 17 turnovers and could not hit the broad side of a barn, hitting 11 of 47 from the field (23%), while Cass hit 19 of 44 (43%).

Although the Cougars could not get the ball to fall through the basket, they did play hard. They had 10 steals and forced 13 turnovers. They also won the rebound battle 34 to 32. Tussinger led the way with 10 and Craig and Benson had 7 each. Craig was the lone Cougar in double figures with 10 points.

With the loss, Carroll stands at 1-2 on the season. They travel to Rossville (1-3) for their first Hoosier Heartland Conference match-up. The Hornets lead the overall series, 37 to 21.

With Eller out, Carroll players are going to have to step up their play and put the ball through the hoop.

JV

Last weekend Carroll's junior varsity beat Caston 50-29 Friday and then let Lewis Cass slip by with the win, 32-29, on Saturday.

Against Caston, Carroll led all the way. Two Cougars were in double figures - Primmer Zook with 15 and Drew Yoder with 10. Kyle Geheb added 9 points.

Saturday night, the Cougars led for most of the night. After a tie and two lead changes a field goal by Jordan Brumbaugh gave the Cougars a 5 to 4 advantage. At the end of three quarters the Cougars were up 25-21. A Riley Johnson basket upped the lead to 27-21 early in the fourth quarter. From there things went sour. The Kings used an 11 to 2 run to take the lead and win the game.

Brumbaugh led Carroll in scoring with 9 points. Geheb added 7 points and Johnson had 6.