Squares up Carroll's Kyle Geheb attempts a jump shot late in the game against Central Catholic. The Knights defeated their conference rival 52-48. Bill Stauffer photo Carroll finished regular season with a 16-win, 4-loss record (4-1 in the Hoosier Heatland Conference) as they split a pair of home games, defeating Twin Lakes (2-19) 74- 65 and falling short to Lafayette Central Catholic (15-6, 5-0) in the battle for the HHC title, 52-48.

Coming into the CC matchup Friday, Carroll had 10 straight losses by an average of 19.4 points, none by fewer than 3 points to the Knights. The last time the Cougars beat CC was n the conference title game in the 2002-03 season, the last time Carroll won the conference.

It was a packed house at Memorial Gymnasium and Senior Night as Coach Jeff Hodson started his seniors - Primmer Zook, Brad Benson, Carson Spesard, Adam Spesard and Riley Eller. Eller, who tore the ACL in his right knee at Delphi Feb. 6 and left the game right after the opening tip. (He underwent surgery on Monday.)

The noise level was high all night as both teams left everything on the floor. There were one tie and three lead changes before Carroll opened up a 16- 7 with 1:41 left in the first stanza. CC scored the final 5 points of the quarter to trail 16-12 at the stop. The second quarter saw two ties before the Knights took their first lead of the night at 27-25. The visitors led 29-25 at half-time.

Carroll fell behind by 5 points, 34-29 with four minutes left in the third quarter. Baskets by Benson, A. Spesard and a three pointer by Zook capped off a 7-0 run, giving Carroll the lead back at 36-34. It was short-lived though as CC came right back with 8 unanswered points, reclaiming the lead for good on a basket and back-to-back three pointers for a 42-36 lead, their biggest of the night. Zook's three pointer pulled the Cougars back to within three and they trailed by 5 points, 44-39, after three.

Carroll let several opportunities slip away in the final period, and could not convert when the opportunities did present themselves. The Cougars were 1 of 6 (17%) from the foul line and 3 of 9 (33%) from the field. Kyle Geheb's trey pulled Carroll back to within two points at 44-42. CC then pushed the lead back out to 6 points, 48- 42. Carroll used a 6-2 run to get back into the game, but could not get over the hump as CC went on to win.

A. Spesard led all scorers with 15 points and 7 rebounds. Noah Allen added 11 points and C. Spesard, Zook and Geheb had 6 points each.

Carroll shot 54 percent from the field on 19 of 35 shooting. They had 18 turnovers and were 6 of 13 (46%) from the line while holding CC to 20 of 45 (44%). CC also had its problems from the line, going 8 of 15 (53%).

Vs. Twin Lakes

Last week against Twin Lakes, Carroll needed someone to step up in a big way and senior Brad Benson and sophomore Noah Allen did just that. They both had career high scoring performances. Benson led all scorers with 27 points and Allen had 18 points.

Carroll never trailed with the score tied at 2, Geheb connected on back-to-back three pointers to give Caroll a 8-4 lead. Twin Lakes never lingered far behind Carroll all night as the Indians pulled to within one at 10-9 with three minutes left in the first quarter. Carroll went on an 11-4 run to open up a 21-13 lead after one, Carroll opened up a 9-point advantage 28-19 early in the second. Twin Lakes came storming back with 8 unanswered points to close the gap at 28-27 with four minutes left in the half. The Cougars held on and led 38-36 at half-time.

Along with Benson and Allen, A. Spesard was in double figures with 14 points. Carroll shot the ball well all night as they were 27 of 46 (58%) from the field and 17 of 25 (68%) while holding Twin Lakes to 22 of 52 (42%) from the field and they were only 8 of 30 (27%) in the second, Carroll was 11 of 18 (61%) from the field in the second half.

Benson also had a career high 9 rebounds. A. Spesard had 6 boards and C. Spesard 5 rebounds, Allen handed out 6 assists, and Geheb 4 assists.

Junior Varsity

Carroll's Junior Varsity was blown out twice last week, first by Twin Lakes 56-22 and then by Lafayette Central Catholic 51-25, finishing the season at 10-10.

The young Cougars never led against Twin Lakes. The visitors used a 15-0 run in the first half to put Carroll away. Carroll had 15 turnovers in the half and was down 29-7 on the scoreboard. Tim Ruby led Carroll with 4 points.

It was more of the same Friday at home against Central Catholic as an Aaron Spesard three pointer gave Carroll a brief 3-0 lead. Central Catholic led 9-7 after one and 20-14 at half-time. It was all CC in the second half. A jumper by Seth Johnson pulled the Cougars to within 4 points at 20-16. The rest of the half CC outscored the Cougars 31-9. Johnson led Carroll with 6 points.

A look back at the young Cougars saw them get off to a 6-1 start. They won the Clinton Prairie Holiday Tourney in that span , but after the first of the year their record dropped off to 4-9.