New Albany Bulldogs hosted the #2 Carmel Greyhounds in a historic night for New Albany hoops. Romeo Langford was only 18 points away from breaking the all-time scoring record in New Albany history. Coach Shannon also was looking for his 500th win.
Carmel came out very focused on defense holding New Albany scoreless in the first four minutes of the game. Carmel led 9-1 early. New Albany used a late push from Langford to make the score 15-9 at the end of the first quarter.
A slow second quarter led to a Carmel lead of 31-22 at the half. Langford had 12 at the break while Carmel's Sterling Brown had 10 points for the Greyhounds.
The Bulldogs took the first four points of the second half. After a steal and dunk by freshman standout Julien Hunter, the lead was just 31-28. This along with an Isaac Hibbert three a few plays later had the game tied at 33. Carmel led 44-42 at the end of the 3rd quarter.
The 4th quarter was very exciting with many momentum swings. With three minutes left Carmel held onto a 50-48 lead. New Albany tied the game at 50 with 2:16 seconds left. Carmel came out of a timeout in a 2-3 zone and New Albany decided to hold for the final shot. Langford missed a deep three-pointer at the buzzer to send the game to overtime at 50-50.
Overtime started sloppily for both teams. John Michael Mulloy played well down the stretch for Carmel getting offensive rebounds leading to put backs and fouls. Down 52-50, New Albany’s first point of overtime came with 29.1 seconds left. A Romeo Langford drive and hoop plus the foul took the lead for the bulldogs. After a missed front end of a one and one, Langford sank two more free throws to seal the deal.
New Albany defeated #2 Carmel 55-52. Langford finished with 28 points and 7 rebounds. He surpassed Chad Hunter as the all-time leading scorer (father of New Albany freshman Julien Hunter). New Albany continues their home winning streak to 21 games and Coach Jim Shannon picked up his 500th win.