Mikes hold off West Greene for 47-43 victory
CARMICHAELS — The Carmichaels boys basketball squad jumped out to a 12-point lead in the opening quarter and held off a surging West Greene team for a 47-43 non-section victory Tuesday night.
“This is a good win for us,” Carmichaels coach Don Williams said. “We battled the whole night and got off to a good start offensively. I thought we controlled their two bigs and forced their other players to make shots. West Greene is a really good team and this is a big win for us.”
Liam Shea poured in a game-high 20 points for the Mikes (2-0), while Chris McAfee and Joel Spishock chipped in with 11 and seven, respectively.
“Liam had a solid game tonight,” Williams said. “He shows great composure on the court and is our leader. I thought other kids stepped up and Joel was key for us late in the game on defense. This was a total team win and we are hoping to build off of this game.”
The Pioneers (2-1) had three starters in foul trouble in the first half and despite a solid effort in the final 16 minutes of play, the visitors couldn’t grab the lead late in the fourth quarter.
Nathan Brudnock and Craig Weaver finished with 12 points each, while Kolton Rush added 10.
“We started slow and some of the guys got into foul trouble,” West Greene coach Jim Romanus said. “Craig really didn’t get to play in the first half and when he was out there (in the second half), we outscored them and we are a totally different team.
“I’m so sick of some of the officiating that goes against Craig. He is a big kid (6-foot-8) and sometimes the refs let the other kids just pound on him and pound on him. Nothing is ever called and I’m fed up with the calls. We struggled without Craig in our lineup, and I give a lot of credit to Craig for fighting through this and not letting it affect his game.”
Carmichaels scored the opening eight points and held a 19-7 lead at the end of the first quarter. Shea and McAfee both hit a pair of 3-pointers in the opening stanza.
“I thought we made our shots in the first quarter and had good ball movement,” Williams said. “On defense we attacked their inside guys and got some fouls off of them. We forced them to play man-to-man on us and we got some open looks. They have a great inside game, so we had to double team and slag off on their bigs inside on defense.”
West Greene opened the second period with a 9-5 run and trimmed the deficit to 24-16 after a trey by Brudnock.
The Mikes countered the run with the final five points of the quarter, all coming from the free throw line, for a 29-16 lead at halftime. For the game, Carmichaels shot 12-of-18 from the foul line.
The Pioneers began the third quarter with new life and cut the lead down to 37-33 with a 17-8 spurt, but once again the home team collected the final five points of the quarter to go up 42-33 at the end of three.
West Greene scored eight of the first 11 points of the fourth quarter and got to within 45-41 after an inside hoop by Weaver.
After a pair of free throws by Shea, the visitors made the score 47-43 after another basket in the paint by Weaver with 25 seconds left, but that would be the closest the Pioneers would get as Carmichaels pulled out the non-section game.
“We have been a little inconsistent these first three games,” Romanus said. “Our outside shooting has been hit or miss, and we need to get a better flow on offense. We are not even close to where we want to be, and we know we have to work at it. We still got some major holes and we have to clean those things up soon.”
Both teams will be back in non-section action this week, as Carmichaels travels to Geibel Catholic today and West Greene visits Waynesburg Central on Friday.