ARLINGTON HEIGHTS — The Carmel boys basketball team knew it would have its hands full in its conference opener Friday night.
The Corsairs (2-4, 0-1) drew defending East Suburban Catholic runner up St. Viator (5-1, 1-0) on the Lions’ home floor. Although the Lions graduated several key players from their Class 4A regional title team, they are still formidable. Carmel had no answer for St. Viator’s overall size and unrelenting outside shooting, falling behind early and eventually losing 75-54.
“Our effort is outstanding. The guys are playing their hearts out. We just have to get better in a lot of areas,” Carmel coach Zack Ryan said.
A quick peek at the roster before the game could foreshadow its outcome. Three of St. Viator’s starters (seniors Patrick McNamara, Sal Cannella and junior Danny Walsh) stand 6-3 or taller, while only one Corsair — senior Thomas McGrail — is 6-3. This will be a fact of life all season for Carmel. One counter to size deficiencies is to gain extra possessions by pushing the pace with an up-tempo offensive attack.
In Carmel’s first four games, the strategy worked. The Corsairs averaged 78 points. But the last two — both losses — have yielded a 57.5 average.
“We need to get back in our fast breaks,” sophomore guard Brian Julien said. “We let their players take advantage of us. We need to lock that down.”
With the Lions in control 37-23 at halftime, Ryan made the decision to have 6-2 junior guard C.J. Duff handle the point. Duff’s first-half struggles (1-of-6 shooting, three points) did not bleed into the second. Possessing an explosive first step, Duff consistently broke down his defender above the three-point line. It led to offense for him (13 second-half points) and for others as defenders collapsed on Duff.
“We were worried about [Duff] breaking us down a little. And there were times he did,” Lions coach Quin Hayes said.
A Duff drive and layup made it 62-46 with 7:15 remaining in the third quarter. But St. Viator promptly went on a 12-5 run, led by the inside play of Cannella (17 points, nine in the second half) to put the game out of reach.
Senior guards Mark Falotico (12 points) and Ricky Muench (10 points) also scored in double digits for a balanced St. Viator offense.
Carmel held McNamara to seven points. It could not contain the rest of Lions’ skilled roster. The Corsairs play one more conference game, on Dec. 19 at home against Joliet Catholic, before the Jacobs holiday tournament begins Dec. 20.
“We played good defense on their best player. We just fell asleep on everyone else,” said Carmel junior guard Sharief Belser-Bailey, who finished with 14 points. “They are a good team but we didn’t play our best. We have to pick it up in practice and get ready for Joliet [Catholic].”
