Cougars win two conference battles
By Greg Hoffman Contributing sportswriter

Carroll (8-11) won two hardfought games last week, defeating conference foe Clinton Central there Wednesday, 64-61, and Frontier Saturday at CHS 62- 58. Sandwiched between the victories was a loss Friday night at Taylor, 78-45. The Cougars are now 3-1 in conference play.

At Clinton Central, it was close from the get go as neither team could get a handle on the game in the first quarter. Carroll committed 5 turnovers and Central had 4 miscues. Eleven fouls were called - 6 against the hosts and 5 against the Cougars. After two lead changes Central held a slim 3- point advantage after one, 9-6.

Three ties and three lead changes followed in the second quarter as Central built its biggest lead of the night at 14-7. Baskets by Jacob Craig and Adam Spesard and Brad Benson's first trey of the year gave the Cougars a 7 to 0 run to tie the game at 14. The Cougars proceeded to outscore the Bulldogs 13 to 8 to open up a 5-point lead at 27-22, but the hosts had chipped away at that lead and had it down to one, 29- 28, by half-time.

Neither team could get more than a 5-point lead in the second half. With Carroll up 33-28, Central outscored the Cougars 17-10 in the third quarter to go up 45- 43. The Cougars committed 10 turnovers.

Central had a 4-point lead when back-to-back baskets by Spesard knotted the score at 48. With the score tied at 50, a trey by Kevin Ives gave Carroll the lead. Five unanswered points by Central had them up 55-53. Spesard again tied the score at 55. From here there were three lead changes and another tie at 61. Spesard had an old-fashion threepoint play to give Carroll the 64- 61 win with 3.6 seconds left.

Carroll went inside to Spesard in the fourth quarter and he responded with 13 big points. He had 15 points for the night. His cousin, Carson Spesard, had 14 points and handed out 6 assists. Ives added 8 points and Riley Eller and Primmer Zook split 14 points. Carroll's bench had an impressive night, outscoring Central's bench 37-5.

The Cougars out-rebounded Central 29 to 22 with C. Spesard leading the way with 7. Craig added 6 rebounds. Carroll was 23 of 45 (51%) from the field and 13 of 17 (77%) from the free throw line, while Central was 22 of 49 (45%) and 14 of 21 (67%) from the line.

Vs. Taylor

At Taylor, the hosts were allowed to use a bump-andsmother defense all night. The Cougars handled it early, opening up an 11-5 lead and holding off a Taylor run to lead 17-16 at the first stop.

Taylor used an 11 to 2 run to start the second quarter to take a 27-19 lead. The Titans' smothering defense started to take its toll on the Cougars in the second and third quarters. Carroll was outscored 45-12 in the middle quarters and was held to 2 of 21 shooting from the field.

The game started to get out of hand late in the third with Carroll down 53-29. The Cougars were whistled for three technical fouls - two on the bench which meant coach Jeff Hodson had to leave the game. He was suspended for the Frontier game Saturday night.

Leading Carroll with 17 points and 6 rebounds was A. Spesard. Craig added 11 points and 8 rebounds. Carroll shot 17 of 49 (35%) from the field and 9 of 15 (60%) from the line, while Taylor was 23 of 49 (47%) from the field and 25 of 29 (86%) from the line.

Vs. Frontier

With Coach Hodson serving his suspension, assistant Tom Allen and JV Coach Nick Beaver shared coaching duties for the Frontier game.

The Frontier game was almost a carbon copy of the Clinton Central game. Neither team could gain control throughout the contest. In the first quarter there were three ties and five lead changes before Carroll was able to hold a 16-14 advantage after one.

Carroll opened up a 7-point lead early in the second on a basket by A. Spesard and Eller trey for a 21-14 lead with 6:05 left in the quarter. After a timeout, Frontier stormed back with a 12 to 0 run to go up by 5 at 26-21. They held a one point lead at the half, 28-27.

After two ties in the third, a trey by Ives gave Carroll the lead back at 36-34 with 4:08 left. The Cougars held that advantage after three quarters, 42-40. The fourth quarter proved to be more of the same. The Falcons took a 58-57 lead late in the game with 1:30 left. Another trey by Ives had Carroll up for good. Two free throws by C. Spesard with 4 seconds left secured the win.

Craig led Carroll in scoring with 20 points and 7 rebounds. Ives was 4 of 8 from behind the arch and 17 points. C. Spesard had 7 points and 5 boards, wile Jason Hazel had 6 points and handed out 6 assists. The Cougars were 21 of 47 (45%) from the field and almost gave the game away at the foul line, hitting 13 of 23 (57%).

The Cougars will finish regular season on the road with a chance to earn a share of the Hoosier Heartland Conference title. Their opponent will be 4th ranked, Class A Lafayette Central Catholic (14-5, 4-0) on Friday. CC leads the series 22-6.

Two wins for the JV

Carroll's Junior Varsity (13-6) got a pair of easy wins over the weekend - at Taylor, 38-24, and against Frontier, 50-37.

The Cougars trailed Taylor 6-4 after one, but took over in the second period. They outscored Taylor 34 to 18 in the final three quarters.

Jordan Brumbaugh led Carroll in scoring with 8 points. Drake Harper and Noah Allen added 6 points each.

Saturday, Carroll never trailed Frontier. They jumped out to a 14-3 advantage after one, increased that lead to 17 points by half-time, 28-11, and by the end of three were up by 22, 42-20.

The Cougars had good balance in scoring with Kyle Geheb leading the way with 13 points. Dallas Butcher, Riley Johnson and Brumbaugh each added 8 points.