Carmel can't catch up to St. Patrick

The Carmel Corsairs' boys basketball team knew that going into Chicago to play St. Patrick Friday night would not be easy.

Turns out the Corsairs had a few problems to overcome.

Carmel found itself trailing 21-9 after one quarter. The Shamrocks then scored the first 6 points of the second quarter to lead 27-9 with 5:42 left in the first half.

"We just didn't come out with any focus," said Carmel's Bryce Moore. "We weren't together at the start. Basically after we fell behind we had to play catch up."

Catch up wasn't in the cards for the most part and the Corsairs fell to St. Patrick 73-56 in East Suburban Catholic Conference play.

The other problem Carmel had was how to cool off Shamrock forward Timaris Brown. Brown pinned the Corsairs with 28 points and 8 rebounds.

In the third quarter, Brown converted 4 3-pointers plus a 2-point basket to help offset Moore's 10 third-quarter points.

"Brown played like a college player tonight," said St. Patrick coach Mike Bailey. "We knew that Moore and Asher Jackson would be tough to handle. They're the top two scorers in the conference."

Carmel went on a 10-0 run to pull within 27-19 with 3:08 left in the first half. Jackson (15 points) hit 2 3-pointers in the run.

St. Patrick (14-9, 5-3) closed out the half ahead 35-23.

Things became interesting to start the third quarter when the Corsairs (16-9, 5-4), behind Moore (17 points, 6 rebounds) and Jackson, scored 9 points and cut the score to 35-32 with 6:23 left in the quarter.

"We did a good job getting back to within three points," said Carmel coach Zach Ryan. "Then Brown came up with a couple of baskets and they scored another basket on a loose ball and that kind of sunk us. "

Trailing 53-39 Carmel closed the gap to 55-46 to end the quarter.

Carmel would get no closer. The Shamrocks went to a delay game offense which opened the lanes for layups. The Shamrocks also hit 7 of 8 free throws to pull away.

"Carmel is a good team," said Brown. "Moore and Jackson are good players and we knew they would be tough on us. But we were able to finish the game and get the win."

The Corsairs received a big lift from junior James Dwyer, who scored 16 points and led several Carmel comebacks.

"He's been playing very well for us since Christmas," said Ryan. "He's been scoring double figures for us. He's really stepped up.

"We'll probably play them again here in the conference tournament next week," said Ryan of St. Pat's. "They could be the 4 seed and us the 5 seed."

"We'll be OK," said Moore. "We have to come out focused and play a complete game."

Kaleb Jackson scored 7 points from off the bench for Carmel.

Andrew Ayeni (14 points), Bryant Handley (10 points) and Brandon Adorno (10 points) were double figure scorers for St. Pat's.