01-23-13
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARMI – In the past two seasons, head coach Tyler Buss saw his Mount Carmel club figure out ways to lose close games.

But in the 2013-14 campaign, the Aces have turned up Golden late in contests.

On Thursday night in a highly anticipated contest between two clubs on the rise, it was Mount Carmel who had just enough to pick up the hard fought victory.

Behind 16-points and 14-rebounds from senior Reece Metcalf and 15-points and nine assists from junior Levi Laws, the Golden Aces improved their overall record to 13-5 and their tournament mark to 3-0 with a 64-62 win over Fairfield in front of a large crowd at the Carmi-White County Invitational Tournament.

Metcalf and Laws have been a part of the close calls that have went against the Aces in the past and are now older and wiser, which has strengthened this program and turned close losses into exciting wins.

“That is the biggest difference between this year and the last two years. It seemed like we would always find ways to lose games and this year we are finding ways to win,” said Coach Buss. “We battled with Harrisburg Monday night and it was a battle with Carmi last night. We pulled one out tonight. It definitely beats being on the other side. I think all of this experience going forward will really help our group.”

Mount Carmel survived an onslaught of 3-point bombs by the Mules, mainly from Fairfield senior sharpshooter Tristin Fry, in picking up the important triumph.

Fry nailed six trifectas and finished with a game-best 27-points, mostly from the outside.

Coach Scott McElravy’s Mules also got inside scoring punch from 6-foot-6 junior forward Nathaniel Lackey, who added 19-points and 11-rebounds to the cause.

But as it turned out this wasn’t quite good enough as Mount Carmel used the long distance effort by Thomas Allen and some additional inside scoring from CJ Diel to have just enough to escape with the win.

Allen, a 5-foot-11 junior guard, hit three 3-pointers in the contest while Diel picked up some big second chance points in the first half as each scored 11-points on the night.

The Aces also survived a double-technical call against senior Riley Raber late in the contest.

In what turned out to be three technical fouls (Fry picking up the other one) on a dead ball situation, Mount Carmel nearly gave the game away in the final 1:03.

Following a Fry 3-pointer from the left wing right in front of the Fairfield bench, which tied the score at 58-all, Raber and Fry exchanged words and the result was the technical fouls.

This gave Fairfield four free throws and Mount Carmel two.

Coach McElravy sent Joseph Rodgers to the line but the senior guard hit just 1-of-4.

In between those four, Mount Carmel’s Metcalf made 1-of-2.

Since it was a dead-ball situation, the ball went back to Mount Carmel with the game even at 59-each.

At this point Laws, a 6-foot junior point guard, pointed the way to the victory.

He drove the baseline for a basket to give Mount Carmel back the lead for good.

He added a free throw moments later and when Fry failed to connect on a 3-pointer in the final seconds, Mount Carmel’s Austin Thompson was sent to the free throw line where he clinched the game with a pair of makes and a 64-59 lead with :02.1 remaining.

Fry hit a 25-footer at the buzzer in “window dressing” fashion as the Mules saw their mark slip to 14-4 overall and 1-1 in the tournament.

The loss halted an eight-game winning streak for Fairfield while Mount Carmel is on a five-game victory run.

In a contest in which Mount Carmel led for most of the way, the Aces never were in a comfort zone until the final horn went off

To get separation, the Golden Aces used three scoring runs to put the pressure on Fairfield but in each case the Mules rallied.

Breaking off an 8-0 run to begin the second quarter, Mount Carmel got its biggest lead of the night.

Leading 20-16 at the end of the first period, the Aces threw and exclamation point at the Mules with four consecutive scores for a 28-16 advantage.

Thompson scored six of these points and Metcalf added a basket in the run.

Nevertheless the Mules didn’t throw in the towel at any point in the contest.

Behind Lackey scoring seven points in the quarter and Fry adding one of the six made treys for the game, Fairfield trailed just 35-29 at intermission.

Allen and Metcalf began the third quarter with 3-pointers and Metcalf closed the stanza with drive down the middle of the lane for a score.

Lackey hit for six more points in the quarter that ended at 43-37 Aces.

“Nathaniel has worked hard and he is a smart kid on and off the floor,” added Coach McElravy. “And Fry and Gifford are good shooters. They got up on us early but I’m really proud of the kids for fighting back.”

Mount Carmel appeared to have put this victory away for safe keeping moments into the fourth quarter.

Laws scored on a drive in the lane and Metcalf added two free throws and a transition basket on an assist from Laws for a 49-39 spread with 6:52 to go.

Fairfield, however, had a final march in them.

Fry added eight points to his slate and when Lackey scored on a lay in with an assist going to teammate Andrew Gifford, the Mules had cut the MC advantage to just 53-52 with 2:27 left.

“He is a great player and it seems like he plays his best against us,” said Coach Buss about Fry.

Allen hit his third 3-pointer of the night that was followed by yet another drive to the basket by Laws.

The ensuing 3-pointer by Fry got the teams to the technical fouls and what turned out to be a victory by Mount Carmel.

“Things just didn’t work out for us tonight. They (Mount Carmel) are a good team and we knew that. We had won eight in a row coming into this and it was bound to stop at some point. We’re a little disappointed but hopefully we will get them at the regional,” said Coach McElravy.

If one was to point to the keys to victory for the Aces, it was the foul line and the boards.

Mount Carmel hit 11-of-16 from the stripe while Fairfield was just 8-of-18, including the technical (foul) difficulties.

The Aces also held a commanding 35-26 rebounding edge, including 17 offensive rebounds by Mount Carmel.

Both teams shot the ball well enough from the floor with Fairfield hitting 22-of-49 overall (44.8 percent) while Mount Carmel was 24-of-59 (40.8 percent).

A win by Mount Carmel over Mount Vernon (IN.) on Saturday night will give the Aces their first championship in this event since 1981.

“This was two really good high school teams going at it and we knew that they (Fairfield) were going to make runs at us. We made a run and then they made a run,” said Coach Buss. “They did as good of a job as anyone in guarding Metcalf and Laws. Fortunately our other guys really stepped up tonight. I was proud of our defensive effort tonight. We rebounded and were as physical as we have been all year. We know we have some things to clean up but Fairfield is a heck of a team and program. I hate how it had to end with the incident (technicals) but we will gladly get out of here with a win.”

Fairfield (62) – Gifford 1 2 0-0 Fry 4 6 1-4 7, Rodgers 0 0 3-6 3, Cody Simpson 1 0 0-0 2, Lackey 9 0 1-2 19, Colton Simpson 0 0 0-0 0, Greifzu 0 0 3-6 3, Kollak 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-15, 3FG-8, FT-8-18, PF-15.
Mount Carmel (64) – Laws 7 0 1-3 15, Metcalf 4 1 5-6 16, Raber 0 0 0-0 0, Allen 1 3 0-0 11, Diel 5 0 1-3 11, Evans 0 0 0-0 0, Diesher 0 1 0-0 3, Margelin 0 0 0-0 0, Thompson 2 0 4-4 8, 2 0 4-4 8, Kline 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-19, 3FG-5, FT-11-1617, PF-21.
Fouled Out – None .
Technical Fouls – Fry - Fairfield; Raber - Mount Carmel (2).

Mount Vernon used a big second quarter (27-14) to take the lead and it was enough to hold off the Bulldogs to improve to 1-1 in the event. A win over Fairfield on Friday and a victory over Mount Carmel on Saturday would give the Wildcats a share of the CWCIT title.