Coming into Friday night’s game, Carroll and Homestead were sitting at 6-2 in SAC play along with Snider and Bishop Luers. The Knights of Luers had the tiebreakers, so if they won, Luers would be the champs. A Luers loss would open the door for Carroll or Homestead.

Even without sophomore star Jalen Jackson, it was all Carroll in the opening period. Ray Vollmer and Richie Gross led the way. Gross scored the opening bucket of the game with a paint finish. Vollmer knocked down a couple of outside shots. The Chargers used hot shooting to build an 11-point lead. Carroll was 7-9 from the floor in the first.

Down double digits, Homestead used a boost from Andrew Leeper to get back in the game. He scored the first seven points for Homestead. The lefty drilled a three-pointers on Homestead’s first possession of the quarter. On the other end, Carroll’s shooting cooled off a bit. Homestead was able to make it a five-point guard before Zach Castator put back a Vollmer miss before halftime. Castator made a couple key plays to keep Carroll ahead.

Carroll built its lead back to 10 points before Alec Grinsfelder drove baseline and found Grant Simmons for a three-pointer. After a couple of stops by Homestead, Pat Raudenbush hit a three off a feed from Zak Krueger. It was a four-point game with 3:20 left in the third. Ryan Preston hit two free throws then Gross scored to extend Carroll’s lead back to eight.

Both sides went scoreless for the final two minutes of the third. In the fourth, Luke Goode took over for Homestead. He was much more aggressive down the stretch than he was earlier. He scored 13 of his game-high 21 points in the fourth quarter.

Despite Goode’s efforts, Carroll pushed its lead to 14 points midway through the fourth. Carroll threw away an in-bounds pass that gave Homestead to cut into a seven-point deficit, but the Spartans came up empty.

Carroll closed the game out at the free throw line to win 61-53. The Chargers never trailed in the game.

Ray Vollmer finished with 15 points and five rebounds. Richie Gross added 14 points and six rebounds. Ryan Preston had 10 points, five rebounds, and four assists. Zach Castator tallied nine, and Sam Strycker had six points and five rebounds.

For Homestead, Luke Goode had 21 points and eight rebounds. Andrew Leeper had 10 of his 12 points in the second quarter. Alec Grinsfelder added seven. Zake Krueger finished with five points and five assists.

Bishop Luers beat North Side to win the SAC title due to tiebreakers.