Fights for 2 Carroll's Riley Eller shoots over good defense by Delphi Friday night. The Cougars held off the host Oracles for the 58-48 win. Bill Stauffer photo Carroll jumped out to a 14-2 lead in the first 4:37 and held off a couple of serious comeback attempts in Friday night's 58-48 victory at Delphi.

It was the Cougars' third straight win and sixth victory in the last seven contests against Delphi since the 2003-04 season. The Oracles only win during that span came in last year's thrilling 67-65 game at Flora.

Carroll (13-2) also defeated Delphi 62-48 in this season's first match up played Nov. 26 at Carroll.

The Cougars, ranked #9 in the latest Class 2A poll, never trailed in the contest after Riley Eller's three-pointer to start the contest sparked the initial rally. Carroll used its height advantage with 6'6" Carson Spesard and 6'7" Adam Spesard to punish the Oracles inside to score 8 of the next 11 points along with a Noah Allen trey.

It would be an uphill battle for Delphi for the rest of the night, but the Oracles would continue to fight hard and pulled within three points on two occasions to keep the game's outcome in question down to the final minute.

Eller closed out the first quarter with a pair of buckets as Delphi's Paul Zink scored six straight and Austin Hawn converted an old-fashioned threepoint play to pull the Oracles to within 18-11 before Drew Yoder nailed a three-pointer with just 5 seconds remaining to give the Cougars a 21-11 lead at the end of the quarter.

Two free throws from Eller to open the second period put the lead back at 23-11 before Delphi's Kris Bender sparked a 9-0 run with three baskets surrounding a Hawn three-pointer to pull the Oracles back to within three points for the first time with 2:52 left in the half. But Carroll had an answer for every rally, scoring the next eight straight on consecutive baskets from Allen and back-toback and ones from the Spesard cousins.

Delphi's Tanner Cripe closed the half with a basket and two foul shots to keep it close at 31- 24.

After Allen opened the second half with a free throw, Eller and C. Spesard traded baskets with Cripe and Hawn before what could have been a major turning point of the game midway through the third quarter. Carroll's valuable Eller went down with an apparent knee injury after a strong drive to the Cougar basket. Eller was looked over for several tense moments before finally being helped to the bench. He later walked on his own to the locker room, but was lost for the remainder of the contest. He did return to action Saturday night during Carroll's win at Clinton Prairie.

Dustin Salyer's basket pulled the Oracles to within six at 36- 30, but again the Cougars responded inside with consecutive lay-ups from the Spesards to bump the margin back to ten with 2:48 left in the period. Two free throws from Bender and a jumper from Hawn surrounded a Primmer Zook trey to close the period at 43-34.

Delphi made one more 6-0 run in the first two minutes of the final period with buckets from Cripe, Zink and Bender to pull back to within three for the final time at 43-40. Kyle Geheb connected on a three-point dagger from the right wing with 5:45 remaining to thwart the rally and foil the upset bid.

A. Spesard and Zink traded baskets before consecutive hoops from Yoder and C. Spesard pushed the lead back to double-digits at 52-42 with 2:35 left in the game.

Another Hawn three-pointer and a free throw from Jordan Wagner got the Oracles back to within six with 1:08 to play, but Yoder and the Spesards converted 6-of-8 free throws in the final minute to seal the victory. Wagner's lay-up at the buzzer accounted for the final tenpoint margin.

"We had a chance at 43-40 and Geheb hit a huge shot," Delphi head coach Brian Tonsoni said. "Soon after we had to foul and we could not catch up."

A. Spesard posted a doubledouble with game highs of 15 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Cougars, while both Eller and C. Spesard added 11 points, Yoder had 9, Allen 6 and Geheb and Zook 3 apiece.

Hawn led the Oracles with 13 points, followed by Bender with 12, Zink with 10 and a team-high 7 rebounds, Cripe with 6 points and a team-high 7 assists, Salyer with 4 points and Wagner with 3.

Delphi JV defeats Cougars

In the JV game, it was the Oracles who took the early lead and held onto a 41-33 victory.

The Oracle JV led 10-4 at the end of the first quarter, 22-12 at halftime and 32-20 at the end of the third quarter before the Carroll was able to narrow the final margin.

Matt Brown led a balanced Delphi attack with team-highs of 10 points and 5 rebounds, while Tyler Smith, Ethan Ross, Clay Maxfield and Wagner had 6 points apiece, Zach Condon 5 and Cole Whitaker 2.

Ross was 2-of-3 from behind the arc to lead all three-point shooters.

Tim Ruby led the Cougars with 13 points, followed by Chad Griffin with 9, Seth Johnson with 8, Kyle Seward 2 and Aaron Spesard 1. Mitch Whitham dished out a gamehigh six assists.