New Albany made its bi-annual trip to Carmel a night after beating Seymour in overtime on Friday night. The Greyhounds played its own overtime game last night as they beat North Central. The teams were in for another slugfest on Saturday night.
It took nearly two minutes of game action for the first points to be scored. Carmel junior Will Leary was able to get loose for a three-pointer to break the ice. Sophomore Tucker Biven answered back with an old-fashioned three-point player for New Albany. The Bulldogs relied on the sophomore the rest of the half. Biven connected on a three at the first quarter buzzer to give New Albany an 11-5 lead.
Biven stayed hot in the second quarter. He knocked down a three a couple minutes into the stanza. After Trey Hourigan converted a couple of free throws for New Albany, Biven buried another three for the Bulldogs. That pushed New Albany's lead to 19-8.
Coming out of halftime, the Greyhounds scored the first eleven points of the third quarter. Josh Whack scored seven points in the game, and all of them came in the first two minutes of the third period. His three-pointer with 6:12 remaining in the third tied the game. Charlie Williams gave Carmel the lead moments later.
After Biven handled most of the New Albany scoring in the first half, fellow sophomore Kaden Stanton took over in the second half. His three-pointer midway through the quarter tied the game. Stanton scored the last six of the period to give New Albany the 26-23 lead heading to the final eight minutes.
To begin the fourth, Carmel was able to get a bucket from Pete Suder. The super sophomore was held in check by the Bulldogs for most of the game. His shot in the lane a minute into the fourth was his first points of the game. Williams scored then Bryce Beery gave Carmel the lead with a little over five minutes left.
Once again, it was Stanton that answered the call for New Albany. He hit a three-pointer off the feed from Biven. Moments later, Suder took the lead back for Carmel. It was a tense, back and forth game for the entire fourth quarter.
After Trey Hourigan made two free throws, Suder had a good look in the lane. It was off the mark and Maddox Schmelz was there for the rebound. Schmelz had 11 rebounds from his guard position for New Albany.
With under a minute to play, Carmel tried to force a steal before fouling. This time Stanton missed the front-end of the bonus. Down one, Suder drove to the basket and New Albany was called for a foul.
Suder went to the line with under eight seconds left, but missed the front-end of the bonus as well. As usual Schmelz was there for the rebound. He calmly knocked down two free throws to extend New Albany's lead to 34-31.
As New Albany was trying to foul up three points, Suder was called for a travel. Stanton put the game out of reach with two free throws.
New Albany walked away with the 36-31 victory.
Biven scored all of his 15 points in the first half to lead New Albany. Kaden Stanton finished with 13. Maddox Schmelz had two points and 11 rebounds. Trey Hourigan recorded five points and three rebounds.
Josh Whack led Carmel with seven. Charlie Williams added six points and three rebounds. Will Leary scored five points. Jackson Jannsen also had five. Pete Suder finished with four points and four rebounds on 2-5 shooting from the field.