Carmel Top Unicorns in First Round of Keio Tournament

CARMEL—The Carmel High boys basketball team picked up its first win of the season last Friday, topping Keio, 56-31, in the opening round of the Keio tournament.

The Rams were set to take on Children’s Village – a winner over Tuxedo - in the championship game Saturday, but snow caused the tournament to be delayed to a date yet to be determined.

Against Keio, the Rams raced out to a 15-7 lead after one quarter, and led 27- 19 by halftime. A 17-7 run in the third quarter gave Carmel a 44-26 advantage at the end of three quarters.

Mike Rooney led the Rams with 19 points and eight rebounds, Alex Grace added 14 points and grabbed nine boards, Aaron Smith had eight points, Victor Satlov chipped in with six points and seven rebounds, and Mike Loughran handed out four assists to go with three points.

Takuma Hari led the Unicorns (0-3) with 16 points.

Carmel coach George Coates said his squad kicked it into gear after the halftime break.

“We had a lackluster first half, then turned it on in the second half,” Coates said. “And I hope that carries over into this week. Because that’s been an issue – inconsistency. So we want to be more consistent. It’s very exciting to get a win, and in the second half we got defensive intensity, and we got better shot selection as well.

“Rooney definitely picked it up, and Smith played well for us,” Coates added. “And Bashkim Rugova came off the bench and provided a nice added lift for us. And Grace had a heck of a third, with 10 points in the quarter.”

The Rams were scheduled to play North Salem yesterday (Wednesday), and next up is a trip to John Jay of East Fishkill Tuesday for a 6 p.m. tipoff.