Published: December 29, 2007 11:25 pm            

Carroll holds off Tri-Central

Cougars take third in CC Holiday Tourney

MICHIGANTOWN — It was a consolation contest devoid of any outright favorite but one that somehow, someway somebody had to emerge. Call it a battle of the unknowns.

Coach Jeff Hodson’s gutsy Carroll crew, sorely missing junior team leader Riley Eller due to season-ending knee injury in early December, had the superior will when it counted here Saturday night in the 48th Annual Clinton Central Holiday Tournament.

With 6-foot-3 senior Jacob Craig knocking down 12 of his game-high 26 tallies in the fourth quarter and getting valuable assistance from the five markers of reliever Kevin Ives and two key free throws from Drew Yoder, the Cougars ended a four-game tailspin with a 71-61 victory over a winless Tri-Central squad.

Hodson, whose Cougars fell to Clinton Prairie in the final :02.8 Friday night, praised the giant effort of Craig, saying “he was the man out there.” But he also gave high marks to three bench performers who helped make the difference — Yoder who came off the bench for 10 points; Ives who came on for nine and 6-6 junior Adam Spesard who came on for seven.

“Those guys have been struggling, and we just brought Yoder up for the tourney. But they made the difference,” Hodson added. “We were fortunate that TC came out cold [shooting 12-of-34 first half], but we finally gained a thing we’ve been missing — confidence. If we’d played this way all year we could be at least 4-3 instead of 2-5.”

Down the hall stood a very upset Trojan tutor, Jeff Layden.

“I don’t know what to say except I’m very disappointed with the way we came out to play,” Layden said. “We have yet to play an entire game. You can’t play one good quarter and one bad quarter and win.

“We got it together defensively starting the third quarter, then made a series of turnovers and gave them some easy baskets. And that was the turning point. I can’t understand it. We put ourselves in position to take over a game, then make basic mistakes. The game is very simple — you score on offense, stop them on defense, and then go score again.

“We simply have to become more consistent in what we do or it’s going to be a very long season,” Layden finished.

The Cougars threatened a blowout when they built two second-quarter, 13-point spreads, 32-29 and 34-21, only to see the Trojans turn up the adrenaline in the third with an aggressive man-to-man defense that caused nine Cougar misplays.

TC appeared on the brink of success when Robby Howell scored four and Justin Huddleston eight as they staged a 12-point run to get TC within a point, 44-43, with 3:04 left in the third. Austin Burton’s trey and a bucket by Howell forged ties of 46 and 48-all.

But Ives popped a bucket, and Craig came on with the play of the game, a swooping stuff of a Justin Hazel pass at the third quarter buzzer for a 52-48 Cougar command. TC got even for the last time, 52-52, on two hoops by freshman Brock Tew.

Carroll then put the game away thanks to two buckets and a freebie by Craig; Ives’ third game fielder and another bucket and free one by Craig while TC was managing a lone basket by freshman Robby Howell and Justin Huddleston’s fourth three-pointer.

It was 64-57 at this juncture, and the Trojans still had time when they got within 64-59 with 2:42 left and 66-61 with 2:25 to play. But Craig meshed his 10th basket; Yoder sank two free ones and Ives added one charity shot to close it out.

TC managed just two baskets in the last 2:52 and finished a dismal 24-of-62 (39 percent) shooting performance by missing 11 of its last 17 tries. Carroll finished a torrid 26-of-46 (57 percent) afield and helped itself with 16 of 24 free throw work. The Trojans were ice-like from three-point range (6-of-20) and had the luxury of mere 7 of 10 free throws.

Craig, Yoder, Ives and Brad Benson (eight points) were the main guns for Carroll, but the Cougars got 18 more tallies and 12 rebounds from four others. Justin Huddleston led TC with 20 but was just 6-of-17 afield including 4-of-10 on treys. Burton and Howell had 12 each; Tew added eight and Jordan Huddleston had seven.

Carroll, no longer an unknown, hosts Eastern next Saturday while Tri-Central greets incoming Lewis Cass Friday hoping somehow to shed its bankruptcy.

        

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