The Cougars kept their season perfect last weekend with a pair of road wins. Friday night they easily defeated Caston 74-41 and Saturday night defeated Lewis Cass 40-27. This is Carroll's first victory over Cass in 11 years.

The last time a Carroll team started a season at 4-0 the present Cougar squad was one or two years old and some were not even born yet. The 1991-92 team went 9-0 out of the gate and ended the season at 18-3.

At Caston, the Cougars dominated the younger Comets at both ends of the court. Carroll's inside game took off from the outset as baskets by Carson and Adam Spesard set the tone for the Cougars who quickly went up 4 to 0. By the end of the first quarter Carroll was up 19-8 and had increased their margin to 22 points by half time at 40-18. The Cougars steadily increased their lead to 34 points at the end of three quarters and held their biggest lead to 39 points (67- 26) early in the fourth quarter. With the big lead, Coach Jeff Hodson was able to use his bench freely the final half.

On the defensive end, Carroll's harassing pressure defense kept the Comets off balance and forced them into 19 turnovers.

The Spesard duo was too much for Caston to handle. They scored 16 and 15 points and combined the pair were 14 of 19 from the field.

Carroll was an excellent 32 of 55 from the field (50%) and hit 5 of 9 from the line (56%), while Caston was 14 of 34 from the field (41%) and 11 of 14 from the line (79%). Carroll's bench outscored Caston 25 to 4.

Vs. Cass

Carroll could not get it going offensively early at Cass. Both teams were ragged in their play. The Kings were up 3-2 when Riley Eller put in a lay-up with 30.3 seconds left in the quarter to put the Cougars up for good at 4-3.

Eller took over on the offensive end scoring 13 points in the quarter on 5 of 6 shooting. Five quick points and a basket by C. Spesard put the Cougars up 11-3 and back-toback treys by Eller pushed the lead out to 17-3. A Brad Benson basket and an Eller 2- pointer put Carroll up 21-3 at intermission.

When the smoke cleared, Carroll had outscored Cass 17-0 in the second quarter. Carroll's defense held the Kings to 1 of 17 (6%) shooting in the half and numerous unforced errors by the Kings led to 19 turnovers by the hosts.

Cass's three points for the half set the record for fewest points allowed in a half by a Carroll team (the old number was 7).

The second half was a different story. The Kings controlled the offensive boards with 15 in the half and were able to close to within 8 points at 28-20 early in the fourth quarter. The Cougars connected on 8-of-8 free throw shooting down the stretch to hold Cass off and get the win.

Eller had his best offensive game of the season with 24 points. C. Spesard added 8 points and A. Spesard 6 points. Cass was led by Kitt O'Brien with 15 points and 14 rebounds (11 on the offensive end).

Carroll shot a poor 13 of 31 (42%) from the field and 12 of 15 (80%) from the line, while Cass was 10 of 46 (22%) from the field and 6 of 14 (43%) from the line. Cass outrebounded Carroll 33-22.

"Our defense has been the key to our success so far this year," said Coach Hodson. "I really thought we did a good job in our play this weekend."

Next up for Carroll will be Hoosier Heartland foe Rossville at home.

JV remains perfect

Carroll's Junior Varsity, like the Varsity, stayed perfect at 4- 0 with wins over Caston, 46- 19, and Cass, 43-34, in overtime.

It was all Carroll at Caston. The Cougars led at all stops - 13-4 after one, 25-9 at halftime, and 33-12 after three. Carroll had three players in double figures as Tim Ruby led the way with 14 points and Riley Johnson had 12 and Chad Griffin 10.

At Cass the game was tied at 9 at the first stop. The Cougars opened up the lead to 3 points, 19-16, at the end of two quarters. Cass fought back to tie the game at 24 at the end of three. The two teams played even in the fourth quarter and when time expired were knotted at 32 all.

In the overtime, Griffin took over and scored 9 of his 15 points as Carroll outscored Cass 11 to 2. Riley Johnson also was in double figures for the game with 10 points.

Last week's game

The Comet inadvertently omitted Hoffman's Carroll boys' basketball write-up in lasts week's issue. The writeup included how a sick grandmother's wish came true when four of her grandsons started a Carroll varsity basketball game together. Carol Spesard, who has been battling cancer, wanted to see her grandsons, brothers Carson and Aaron Spesard, and cousins, Adam Spesard and Drew Yoder, in a game at the same time. Coach Jeff Hodson made that wish come true when he started the four, along with Riley Eller, against Tri County. Mrs. Spesard was unable to attend, but the game, won by Carroll, was taped for her to see.

For the complete story on the game see the Comet's website.