A best-case scenario for Center Grove’s four seniors would have been to knock Class 4A No. 2 Carmel from the ranks of the unbeaten.
The visiting Greyhounds weren’t going to oblige.
Carmel rallied to spoil the Trojans’ senior night, 51-44, in overtime for its 10th consecutive victory over its Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference rival. The ’Hounds improved to 9-0 overall and 3-0 against league foes, while Center Grove is 3-3 and 1-1.
Center Grove led, 35-28, with 4:53 remaining in the fourth quarter, but the Greyhounds forced an extra session with an 11-4 run. They trailed by a point early in OT but scored eight straight to remove any remaining suspense.
“In this game and, really, basketball in general, is all about the team that makes the fewest mistakes usually wins,” Trojans coach Zach Hahn said. “I thought for 27, maybe even 28 minutes we really executed a game plan both on offense and on defense.
“The first half we missed some open 3s that could’ve helped us. In the second half, we had some turnovers late, and one guy didn’t execute on a shooter. Those are the things that beat you when you’re playing a top five team in the state. Twenty-eight minutes out of 32, that was the group I’ve been excited about all year.”
Junior guard Tayven Jackson led Center Grove with 13 points, followed by senior guard Landin Hacker’s 12. Senior swingman Charlie Bemis knocked down three triples for nine points.
The first half was closely contested, with the Greyhounds riding junior guard Peter Suder’s eight points to a 21-18 advantage at intermission. Center Grove jumped to a 7-2 lead early, but Carmel responded with a 7-0 run and remained in the lead for the rest of the half.
Center Grove was down 23-18 early in the third and seemed to be at an immediate disadvantage when Jackson sat down with his third personal foul only 46 seconds in.
However, back-to-back Bemis triples put the Trojans back on top; free throws by Hacker made the spread five, though Carmel whittled the lead to two at the end of the quarter. A conventional three-point sequence by Hacker and two Jackson charities pushed it a game-high seven-point cushion before the Greyhounds began their comeback.
The Trojans’ lone overtime lead, 42-41, evaporated after Carmel senior Wil Leary drained a baseline 3-pointer at the 2:03 mark. It was Leary’s third shot attempt of the contest and his only points.
Center Grove returns to action tonight at Jennings County.
“The biggest thing is they need rest,” Hahn said of his players. “We went into a span where we didn’t play for 21 days, and then we come out and play really bad (against Perry Meridian). We’ve got to refocus, and then come out and play better tonight. But they’re going to need to rest because this was a 32-minute battle.”
