Working hard for 2 In Saturday's championship game of the Clinton Central Holiday Tourney, Carroll's Adam Spesard scores two of 24 points over (40) Evan Pohl with (22) Dylan Padgett watching the action under the basket. Photo provided by Indianaphoto.net Carroll won the 49th annual Clinton Central Holiday Tourney, defeating the (2-6) host team in the championship game to remain undefeated at 7-0. This was Carroll's ninth Clinton Central Tourney title.

The two games were almost carbon copies of each other. The Cougars defeated the Bulldogs Saturday night 58-43 and Tri-Central Friday night by the same score. The Cougars struggled both nights in the first half, then put their opponents away in the second half to claim the wins.

In the championship game, the Bulldogs took the early lead and with the score tied at 4 all, Central went on a 7-0 run to go up 11-4. The Cougars fought back to within 3 at 15-12 after one. The hosts then pushed their lead back out to 5 points, 20-15, and held a 4 point advantage, 24-20, at half-time.

Carroll could not buy a basket in the first half, hitting none of 8 attempts on 3-pointers and only 8 of 27 overall (30%). Clinton Central was 10 of 21 (48%).

The Cougars took over in the third quarter with an 8-0 run to start the half. They took the lead for good at 28- 24 with 3 minutes left in the quarter and were up 39-32 at the end of three. Adam Spesard took over on the inside for Carroll with 8 points on 4 of 6 shooting. Riley Eller added 5 points and Carson Spesard 4 points as the Cougars outscored the Bulldogs 19-8 in the quarter.

In the fourth quarter, Carroll used 5 of 7 shooting from the field and 9 of 12 shooting from the line to hold off the Bulldogs.

For the second half, Carroll was 13 of 22 (55%) from the field and 11 of 14 (79%) from the line, while holding Clinton Central to 7 of 23 (30%) from the field. For the game, Carroll was 21 of 49 (43%) from the field and 15 of 21 (71%) from the line. Clinton Central was 17 of 48 (35%) and 5 of 10 (50%).

Adam Spesard had a double double with a game and career high 24 points and 12 rebounds. Eller had 12 points and Drew Yoder, 9 points. Carson Spesard pulled down 8 rebounds. Noah Allen had a good floor game with 3 assists and 5 steals. Yoder handed out 3 assists and Eller had 4 steals.

Friday night, the Cougars could not shake the winless Trojans in the first half. They never trailed in the game and late in the first period had built an 8-point lead, 16-8. From there Tri- Central ran off 6 unanswered points to close the gap at 2 points, 16-14, early in the second stanza. The Cougars built their lead back to 6 points, but a trey by Tri-Central at the horn gave Carroll only a 3-pooint lead, 26-23, at half-time. Eller led Carroll in scoring with 14 points and was 3 of 5 from behind the arch. Tri- Central stayed with the Cougars by going inside. The Trojans were 8 of 13 (62%) from the field, while the Cougars were 8 of 23 (35%).

It was all Carroll in the second half. They went on a 24-2 run to take a 50-25 lead and coasted the rest of the way.

For the second time this year, Carroll held a team scoreless in a quarter, outscoring the Trojans18-0 in the third quarter with Adam Spesard leading the way with 10 points.

Carroll was 12 of 18 (67%) from the field in the half while Tri-Central was 8 of 23 (35%) and 0 of 7 in the third quarter. For the game, Carroll was 20 of 39 (51%) and Tri-Central was 16 of 36 (44%).

Eller led the Cougars in scoring with 20 points. He was 5 of 8 on three point attempts. Adam Spesard added 14 points and 7 rebounds, while Allen added a career high 10 points. Carroll had 9 steals total with Yoder claiming 4 and Allen 3. Brad Benton handed out 4 assists off the bench.

By press time Carroll will have already played Class 3A Western Tuesday night. Saturday, the Cougars travel to (4-3) Eastern.