'Not anything better than January at Carmel.' Hounds beat Westfield during tough stretch.
CARMEL – It is not often you hear a coach, especially one as invested in winning as much as Carmel’s Ryan Osborn, talk about how “these games don’t matter.”
Of course, Osborn does not mean exactly that and he certainly will not turn down Carmel’s 49-38 home victory over Westfield on Saturday night in front of a packed house. But in the grand scheme of the season, it is more about developing a team that is young in some areas and helping key players into new roles to prepare for the sectional in two months.
“I want to win ‘em,” Osborn said. “But it’s really fulfilling to see other groups go out there and compete and it’s going to make us better. I like the grit that we played with (Saturday) and we need that toughness to continue to build.”
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Class 4A No. 8 Carmel (8-4) was coming off a tough 43-41 loss at seventh-ranked Center Grove on Friday night and appeared to be headed toward a similar tight finish Saturday. The Greyhounds trailed No. 6 Westfield 21-20 at halftime before senior Sam Orme took over with nine-point third quarter and Carmel pushed out to a 36-26 lead.
Orme, a Belmont recruit, finished with 13 points and six rebounds. Sophomore Alex Couto led the Greyhounds with 14 points on 3-for-3 shooting from the 3-point line and Spencer White added 10 points and five rebounds.
“We know what we’re going to get with Sam,” Osborn said. “He’s jumped out at me this year at just doing everything. He’ll guard the other team’s best player, he’ll be our best rebounder and actions go through him on the offensive end. He’s growing into a leadership role that he hasn’t had to do before. I’ve been more than impressed with the production he’s given us on both ends.”
There was a little added motivation Saturday for Carmel, which was playing Westfield (8-2) for the first time since the Shamrocks defeated the Greyhounds 59-54 in last year’s sectional championship to end Carmel’s seven-year sectional stranglehold.
“Seeing them celebrate that sectional victory was tough,” Orme said. “But we bounced back from that and got the win tonight. I feel like we responded pretty well.”
Westfield is a different team than last year after the graduation of Mr. Basketball Braden Smith and standout guard Cam Haffner. But only an overtime loss to Zionsville kept Westfield from entering Saturday’s game with an undefeated record.
A big reason for that is the play of senior Alex Romack, who finished with 17 points and five rebounds on 8-for-11 shooting. Junior guard Trey Buchanan (eight points and seven rebounds) is the only other Westfield player returning with substantial varsity experience.
Westfield shot just 3-for-17 from the 3-point line and attempted only two free throws.
“It’s a much different team,” Westfield coach Shane Sumpter said. “You really have two kids with experience and really nobody else. Those kids are learning how to play together and we’re off to a pretty good start. We were there tonight, but we had that rough stretch in the third quarter, which you can’t have against a team like Carmel.”
Carmel was without two key players in seniors Jake Griffin (injury) and Jared Bonds (illness). Osborn expects both players to be back soon, possibly for Wednesday’s home game vs. Cathedral. In all, Carmel plays teams currently ranked No. 1 (Ben Davis), No. 2 (Cathedral), No. 4 (Brownsburg), No. 6 (Westfield) and No. 7 (Center Grove) in Class 4A during January.
Fort Wayne Snider and surging Pike are also on Carmel’s January schedule.
“There’s not anything better than January at Carmel,” Osborn said. “There just isn’t. It’s fun. You know you are going to get better and you are going to get challenged every night. These guys have embraced that and it makes it a lot of fun.”
Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana high school basketball: Carmel beats Westfield in top-10 matchup
