Carmel stays unbeaten in thriller over Irish. 'They believe they can win.'

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INDIANAPOLIS – The recipe for defeat stared down the Carmel Greyhounds on Saturday night, but they weren’t biting.

Instead, the seventh-ranked Class 4A Greyhounds regrouped and served up a comeback, winning a thriller, 63-62, at top-ranked 3A Cathedral (7-3) to remain unbeaten.

Scoreless for nearly eight minutes in the first half and down by 17 points midway through the second quarter, the Greyhounds (8-0) rallied back and survived an early January playoff atmosphere that featured 11 ties.

“They believe. They play for each other,” Carmel coach Ryan Osborn said. “They’re more confident together.”

Trailing Cathedral 29-12 with 3 minutes, 51 seconds remaining in the first half following a 20-3 run by the Fighting Irish, Carmel turned the tide with an 11-2 swing capped by a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from senior Julian Vogt that kicked off a tug-of-war final 16 minutes.

“To get our footing down 17 was huge,” Osborn said. “They believe they can win, regardless of the situation. It’s an experienced team. It’s a confident team.”

The Greyhounds proved they won’t go away quietly in any scenario with a trio of double-digit scorers led by junior Cash Daniels with 19 points, who returned to Cathedral after transferring to Carmel this past summer.

Daniels spearheaded a 7-0 run to open the second half, cutting Cathedral’s lead 31-30, and later the shifty point guard assisted senior Evan Harrell’s go-ahead 3-pointer late in the third, 43-42, before beating the horn with a layup in the final seconds to put Carmel up 45-42.

“It was very personal for me. I take everything personal. Man, it was everything,” Daniels remarked on playing against his former school. “It wasn’t state tournament yet. It wasn’t our state championship, but it was there, man. We stayed undefeated which was good.”

It was a test of fortitude for the Greyhounds, who faced seven ties in the fourth quarter alone while both teams traded the lead a combined six times.

“There were a lot of nerves from everybody. We just had to come together as a team and just win the game,” Daniels said. “But it was a crazy atmosphere.”

Carmel’s 9 of 18 shooting from 3-point range fueled the rally led by 4 of 6 converted by Vogt, who finished with 12 points, and 2 of 3 from senior Evan Harrell, who had 16 points and six rebounds.

Senior JaMichael Fountain had eight points and shot 2 of 3 from beyond the arc.

“I thought we went through a segment, and when they built that big lead, we don’t get selfish. We just get to ourselves,” Osborn said. “I felt like we got rushed, and we tried to make a play. Somebody wanted to make a play to get us out of it, so we could settle back down and get back into our stuff.”

Junior Vince Nover halted the scoring drought with a pair of free throws in the second quarter before pulling down the defensive rebound that set up Vogt’s clutch 3-pointer before halftime.

“Senior, he’s been through it, waiting for moments like that,” Osborn said of Vogt. “He gets his moment, and he steps up and executes. It’s a sign of a mature, big-time player. We need more of that. From everybody.”

Cathedral senior Julien Smith’s game-high 20 points and four 3-pointers paired with senior Keaton Aldridge’s 18 points made holding an advantage nearly impossible until the final 1:33.

An and-1 by Aldridge with 2:36 remaining in the game supplied Cathedral with its last lead, 62-60, but an assist from Daniels to Vogt for a 3-pointer a minute later foreshadowed the Fighting Irish’s third straight loss.

“They hit some threes, and you know they shoot the three well and that’s the great equalizer,” Cathedral coach Jason Delaney said. “They just kind of got going and we kind of battled, but we didn’t execute when we needed to execute. We didn’t get rebounds when we needed them.”

Cathedral outscored Carmel 20-18 in the fourth and led 50-58 after junior Braylon Pippins scored his 12^th point with 3:02 left to give the Fighting Irish three players in double figures.

However, three possessions in the final 44.3 seconds for Cathedral resulted in a turnover and two missed, contested shots.

“We’re looking towards March. All of this, can it get us ready for March? A year ago, we were 20-5 and blew an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter to (Crispus) Attucks. That 20-5 felt like 5-20,” Delaney said. “I’d rather win in March than have a glowing record and lose like we lost last year. That was the hardest loss of my career.”

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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IHSAA basketball: Carmel defeats Cathedral in battle of state-ranked teams

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