Regional: Carmel vs. Homestead
Homestead and Carmel have made this Regional their home the last few years and it wasn’t a surprise to see them go up against each other again and have it come down to the wire. However, Carmel go control early and never really gave it up.
Carmel got out to a big lead and you could see Homestead’s offense was going to struggle. Carmel isn’t a big offensive team either but a Luke Heady three and Jalen Whack getting going early really helped give them a cushion.
Homestead fought back, though, and Onye Ezeakudo was really good late in the game giving them some hope. Their freshman Luke Goode brought the majority of the offense with four triples but that wasn’t enough as Carmel finished it off, winning 46-41.
Best Offensive Player: Jalen Whack (Carmel)
This was another great game for Whack. He’s really coming out of his shell and showcasing the ability he has. He’s always been reserved but now he’s being asked to be a bigger weapon and his skill set says he can do it. He’s not going to take bad shots and he takes such good looks that this 4/5 shooting is about on par right now. Not too mention, his four offensive rebounds were huge in this game.
Best Defensive Player: Onye Ezeakudo (Homestead)
Onye was really impressive and was by far the best game we had seen to this point. He’s a big, bruising guard that actually was physical enough to really cause problems for them. He was switched up a bunch but always seemed to make life a little more difficult for Carmel’s guards. If Homestead had just a little more offense, they probably would have won this game.
Biggest Surprise: Homestead’s Freshman Goode
Could have put Onye here but Luke Goode, the 6’4 freshman from Homestead was awesome. He’s the type of kid you can see has really good shooting ability. He hit a 28′ buzzer beater and then a side-step three later on. He’s got the touch and the size to really be intrigued. It’s early but his 13 points were not gifted to him and they were fun to watch. Bright future ahead.
Top Scorers:
Jalen Whack (Carmel) – 12 points (4/5 FG), 6 reb, 4 offensive reb
Luke Goode (Homestead) – 13 points (4/7 FG), 3 reb
Team |
Q1 |
Q2 |
Q3 |
Final |
Carmel | 11 | 25 | 34 | 46 |
Homestead | 5 | 17 | 28 | 41 |