Sectional winner Carroll boys basketball team claimed its third sectional title in three years on Saturday at Delphi. Team members are (l-r): Front – Cheerleaders Sabrina Wilson, Maizie Wickersham, Shelby Stephens. 2nd Row - Assistant Coaches Jarrod Yoder and John Filbrun, Blake Seward, Chad Griffin, Tim Ruby, Drew Yoder, Noah Allen, managers Ali Fewell, Emilee Delaplane, and Blake Cromer, Assistant Coach Tom Allen, Jarin Bush, and cheerleading sponsor Kim Bordner. 3rd Row – Ball boys Colin Hodson and Tre Filbrun. 4th Row - Cheerleaders Casey Crume, Cayla Macaluso, Danielle Sunnycalb, Kayleigh Bordner, Alexis Lees, Taylor Walters, Allison Nelson, Baylee Brumbaugh, Aleshia Rosenbush. Back - Coach Jeff Hodson, manager Ethan Glascock, Assistant Coach Brandon Reef, Kyle Geheb, Eric Miller, Riley Johnson, Seth Johnson, Jordan Brumbaugh, Jarrid Robertson, and Aaron Spesard. Photo provided Carroll boys basketball team won its third straight sectional championship. The Cougars used 3-point shooting, good defense, free throw shooting and a dominating inside game by their big men in all three Delphi 2A Sectional 37 contests.

Works for two Carroll senior Drew Yoder drives to the basket with Oracle Austin Hawn defending during last week’s opening round Sectional contest between the county rivals. Carroll won the game 50-42. Photo by Jerry D. Reinke In the championship game against Fountain Central, Carroll never trailed, rolling to a 49-36 victory.

Fountain Central packed its defense in to stop Carroll inside. The Cougars responded by going 4 of 6 from 3-point range and 7 of 9 overall from the field. Eric Miller started Carroll off with a 3-pointer as the Cougars opened up the game with a 12 to 2 run. At the end of the quarter they were up 19-11.

Kyle Geheb scored 5 points to push Carroll’s lead out to 13 points, 24 to 11. The Cougar defense held Fountain Central to 1 of 12 (8%) shooting from the field in the second quarter. Fountain Central did not score until 1:43 left in the half. Carroll held a 26-14 lead at half-time.

FC pulled to within 8 points at 29-21 with 3:22 left in the third quarter, but this would be as close as the Mustangs would get. Carroll scored 8 unanswered points to go up 37-21 and to lead 37- 23 at the stop. A 9 to 2 run by the Cougars opened the fourth quarter, giving Carroll a 46-26 lead with 3 minutes left. They coasted the rest of the way to the championship.

Geheb led Carroll in scoring with 12 points. Noah Allen had 10 points and Seth Johnson and Miller had 8 points each. Johnson grabbed 10 of Carroll’s 31 rebounds. The Cougars held the Mustangs to 10 of 44 (23%) shooting from the field, while connecting on 15 of 35 (43%) themselves.

Vs. Seeger

In Friday night’s semi-final game against Seeger, like the championship game, Carroll never trailed, putting the Patriots away 66-48.

Miller’s 3-pointer got the Cougars on the board, followed by a 2-pointer by Johnson and a 3-pointer by Allen for an 8 to 0 lead out of the gate. The Cougars held an 18-13 advantage after one.

Carroll opened the second quarter with 8 unanswered points for a 13 points lead at 26-13. By half-time the Mustangs had made up some of the deficit, trailing by only nine at 31-22.

A Tim Ruby 3-pointer opened the second half for Carroll and started an 11 to 0 run. Allen had a basket and Drew Yoder and Geheb added 3 pointers to push Carroll’s lead out to 20 points, 42-22. By the end of three quarters the Cougars were up 46-27.

The Patriots closed the gap to 14 points, but would get no closer the rest of the way as the Cougars connected on 12 of 14 shots from the free throw line.

Allen led Carroll with 17 points. Miller added 10 and Geheb 9. The Cougar bench outscored Seeger’s bench 17 to 4.

Carroll shot 54% from the field on 21 of 39 (54%) attempts and 17 of 33 (74%) from the line. They held Seeger to 14 of 47 (29%) from the field and 16 of 26 (62%) from the line. The Cougars out-rebounded Seeger 30 to 22 as Miller had 6. Geheb and Yoder each handed out 3 assists.

Vs. Delphi

Opening round action against county-rival Delphi was possibly for the sectional championship. This game was the best of the sectional. Both teams came into the game with identical 10-10 records and had each defeated each other during regular season – Delphi in the season opener by 2 points in November and Carroll by one point in overtime on Feb. 17.

Carroll gave Delphi a different look defensively this time around. Coach Jeff Hodson moved 6’8” Seth Johnson and 6’5” Miller to the top of the Cougar 3-2 zone to combat Delphi’s outside shooters, particularly leading scorer Austin Hawn. Hawn had 46 points in the first two meetings, but Carroll held him to just 12 points (5 of 16 from the field) in this game.

Back-to-back 3 pointers by Miller put Carroll up by 6 to open to the contest. Four lead changes and two ties in the first quarter had the score knotted at 14.

The Oracles took the lead in the second quarter by outscoring the Cougars 8 to 2. Carroll called time with 2:17 left in the half and then a steal and basket by Ruby and a Johnson lay-in brought Carroll back to within 2 at 22-20. The Oracles held the twopoint margin at half-time, 24- 22.

In the second half Carroll went big with both Johnson brothers – Seth and 6’11” Riley – in the game at the same time and with the 3-2 zone. The Oracles could not find a good shot from the field, connecting on only 6 of 26 (22%).

Two quick baskets by Delphi gave the Oraclss a 6-point lead at 28-22. A free throw by Yoder and 3 points by Allen had Carroll trailing by only 2, 28-26. The Johnson brothers took over from here as Seth put in a lay-in and Riley had two baskets to give Carroll back the lead, 32-28. Hawn and Cole Murray brought Delphi back with 2 and 3 points respectively, giving Delphi a brief 33-32 advantage. Geheb banked in a 3- pointer to give Carroll the lead back for good at 35-33.

A 7-0 Carroll run followed with 2 by Yoder, 4 by S. Johnson and 1 by R. Johnson to go up 42-33. The Oracles fought back to within 4 points with less than 2 minutes to play, but Carroll hit free throws down the stretch to claim the win.

S. Johnson and Yoder led Carroll with 10 points each. Seth had a double-double with 10 rebounds. Hawn led the Oracles with 12 points, followed by Jordan Wagner with 11 and Kris Bender with 8.

Carroll was 16 of 29 (55%) from the field and 14 of 19 (74%) from the line. Delphi was held to 13 of 46 (28%) from the field and was an excellent 13 of 15 (87%) from the line.

In all three sectional games, Carroll’s first game basket came from Miller, who hit a 3 each time.

Another statistic of note is Carroll’s sectional championship win gave Coach Hodson his 107th win at Carroll, tying him with former Coach Ed Geheb for most wins by a Cougar coach. Geheb coached from 1990 through 1999, compiling a 107-88 record.

Carroll’s next opponent will be (14-10) Guerin Catholic in a 12 noon contest in Saturday’s Tipton Regional. The Golden Eagles have won 10 straight games and are 9-2 against 2A schools, while Carroll is 7-4 against 2A schools.