Rams Rebound Win over Yorktown

CARMEL – It was a Jekyll and Hyde spin for the Carmel High boys basketball team last week, as the Rams were very good in a 58-44 League 1-A victory over Yorktown Monday, but were very bad in a 57-56 non-league setback Friday to Saunders.

Carmel’s Alex Grace sparked Carmel with 14 points, seven rebounds, four steals and two blocks in a win over Yorktown Monday. SKIP PEARLMAN Monday at Carmel, the Rams battled Yorktown (6-9, 3-4) to a 14-14 stalemate after one, but grabbed a 30-26 lead at halftime. Carmel kept the pressure on in the second half, winning the third (14-11) and fourth (14-7) quarters to seal the win.

Alex Grace led the Rams with a strong all-around game, including 14 points, seven rebounds, four steals and two blocks. Mike Rooney was also solid, with 12 points, three steals, three rebounds and three assists. Mike Loughran and Aaron Smith each added eight points for Carmel.

“We came out with a full head of steam, and kept it up,” Rams boss George Coates said. “We did a lot of things well… and it started on the defensive end. And we ran the floor well, got a lot of easy baskets. That was the difference.

“Ryan Shilling has been our glue,” Coates added of the Rams senior. “Particularly on defense… he gets to loose balls, and finished with five points, five rebounds and three assists. He really gets the job done. And that was some performance by Grace… he ran the floor very well. And Victor Satlov and Bashkim Rugova both played very well off the bench. We didn’t lose a beat when they came in.”

The prior Friday at Carmel, the Rams did not play one of their better games against Saunders, which left with only its second victory of the season (2-12).

Saunders led 20-14 after one, and the Rams took most of the second quarter off – getting out-scored 16-4 – to fall behind 36-20 at the break.

As bad as that sounds, Carmel actually came back and went ahead in the fourth. But Manny Zapata (nine points, 17 rebounds) drained the gamewinning layup for Saunders with about nine seconds left. Carmel had two chances to win it, but couldn’t get a shot to drop in the final seconds.

“We went up by four with about 30 to play,” Coates said. “But we didn’t finish well. I think we expended so much energy coming back that we made some mistakes we normally would not make at the end. We were out of synch all night. We had a bad first half…we didn’t have energy.”

Grace finished with 17 points, Rooney added 15 and Smith had nine.

Max Clayton led Saunders with 19 points.

Carmel takes on Lakeland Friday night at 6:15 p.m. at Carmel, and the Rams are at Panas Monday.