Knights prove their ranking to Cougars
By Greg Hoffman Contributing sportswriter

Grabbing the rebound Carroll's #33 Carson Spesard stretches for an offensive rebound against Central Catholic last week. Spesard pulled down six boards for the Cougars. Bill Stauffer photo

Carroll (8-12, 3-2) probably played one of the favorites in the Class A state championship run Friday night, Lafayette Central Catholic. The Knights (16-5, 5-0) are ranked fourth in Class 1A.

On the line was the Hoosier Heartland Conference title. A win by the Cougars would give them a share of the title with Rossville and Central Catholic. A win by CC would give the Knights the title outright. CC won their home game and the conference title with an easy 73-37 victory.

The Cougars again had a hard time keeping their hands on the basketball on the offensive end. They committed 20 turnovers, 10 in each half. And against a team of Central Catholic's caliber, and your chances of an upset go down to zero.

Kevin Ives' trey gave Carroll its only lead at 3-0. CC tied it at 3 and two ties later, the Knights took the lead for good at 10-9. They led by 8, 17-9, after one.

Back-to-back fielders by Jacob Craig pulled Carroll back to within 4 at 17-13. CC came right back with 11 unanswered points to take a 28-13 lead. By half-time they were up 37-21.

CC used a suffocating defense in the second half to hold Carroll to 8 of 29 shooting from the field. In the second half CC outscored the Cougars 36 to 16.

Craig was the only Cougar in double figures with 10 points. Adam Spesard had 6 and Brad Benson and Ives split 10 points.

The regular season ended Friday night for Carroll. Tuesday night starts the second season and sectional play for the boys' four-class state tournament.

Carroll moved up to Class 2A this season and will play in the Fountain Central Sectional. The Cougars will play country rival Delphi in the first game Friday night, set for 6 p.m. Delphi beat the Cougars 67-65 at Carroll on Feb. 1. Carroll leads the overall series 30-22.

Knights defeat JV

Carroll Junior Varsity (13- 7) fell to Central Catholic 50- 36 Friday night.

The start of this contest was a carbon copy of the varsity game with Kyle Geheb sinking a three-pointer giving Carroll the early lead. Two ties later, CC took the lead for good at 7-6. The Knights led 15-6 after one and 30-19 at the half.

The Cougars chipped away at CC's lead in the third quarter, outscoring their hosts 11 to 6 to pull to within 6 at 36- 30 at the stop. A trey by Geheb closed the margin to 3 but a 12-0 Knight run gave them a 48-33 lead, putting the Cougars away.

Geheb led Carroll with 13 points. Noah Allen had 8 points and Riley Johnson, 7 points.