Center Grove’s Jalen Bundy, center, gets screened while defending during Friday’s game against visiting Carmel.
Chris Williams | For the Daily Journal
Marcus Ankney had a quiet offensive night by his standards on Friday, spending most of the evening trying to slow down Carmel’s 6-foot-9 Sam Orme at the other end.
But with 5.9 seconds left and the game on the line, Center Grove put the ball in the hands of its go-to guy.
Ankney went the length of the floor and got himself to the free throw line, where he sank two shots with 0.6 seconds remaining to help the Class 4A No. 7 Trojans pull out a 43-41 home with over eighth-ranked Carmel on Friday night.
Center Grove (11-1) had not defeated the Greyhounds since Jan. 7, 2011.
“It was 5.9, and around then you get five dribbles,” Ankney said of his approach to the decisive possession. “So I was knowing in my head that I could make it; I could make one move and get to the rim in that amount of time with my speed and my athletic ability. I saw the guy (try to) take the charge, so I tried to go around him to try to get a layup and a block. … I just knew I needed to get to the rim.”
Ankney’s foul shots saved the day after Carmel (7-4) had erased a 12-point deficit, holding the Trojans scoreless for a stretch of eight minutes and five seconds in the second half.
Orme got the Greyhounds out in front early, scoring eight points in the first three and a half minutes to give the visitors a 9-3 advantage. Joey Schmitz then got into a groove of his own to help the Trojans charge back. He converted an and-one in transition to tie the game at 9-9, then gave Center Grove the lead with a 3-pointer on the next possession. Teammates Ethan McComb and Owen Baker added 3s before the end of the quarter to cap a 15-2 run that left the home team up 18-11 after the first period.
The Greyhounds scored the first five points of the second to slow the Trojans’ momentum, but Schmitz got going again late in the quarter, knocking down two in a row from behind the arc to stretch the lead back out to 27-18 with 2:08 to go in the half. He opened the third quarter by drilling another 3 to put Center Grove ahead by a dozen.
Schmitz finished with 20 points. Orme had 20 for Carmel, but Ankney limited the Belmont University recruit to one field goal in the second half.
Turnovers — the hosts committed six in the third, including three in a row at one point — slowed that momentum somewhat, but Carmel couldn’t take advantage right away. The margin never got smaller than seven during the quarter, and after a pair of Will Spellman baskets down low, McComb sank a long 3, his third of the game and the team’s 10th, to restore the 12-point advantage at 37-25.
From that point, however, Center Grove’s well ran dry and the Greyhounds chipped away, getting within three at 37-34 on a pair of Orme free throws with 3:43 left in the contest. Carmel had a chance to even it up on its next possession, but Schmitz was able to get his fingertips on the shot and then control the ball, sending it upcourt to set up an Ankney layup that ended the Trojan drought at the 2:53 mark.
Center Grove coach Zach Hahn didn’t panic when his team went that long without a point.
“Carmel is the best program defensively in the state,” he said. “That’s what they do. We made some shots early on that got us going a little bit; second half, they pack it in the paint and we couldn’t really get much going.”
Schmitz hit two from the line to make it 41-36 with 1:36 to go, but Carmel’s Alex Couto responded with a 3 and Logan Reinhart made a pair of free throws to tie it.
Ankney and the Trojans, though, still had just enough time to respond.
After the game, Hahn credited the home crowd with giving his team the energy to get across the finish line.
“I want to thank the fans — they were awesome,” the coach said. “The band was was rocking, we had a student section and they participated; we were filling up the upper bleachers. That’s what’s fun to me. The game is a part of it. That was a fun game, though, because everybody was into it. And that’s what basketball is supposed to feel like in Indiana.”
