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Carmel presses the point vs. Lakes

An episode of “Meet the Press” took place on Tuesday afternoon at the Mundelein High School gym.

But this wasn't about politics or the news of the day.

This was about the Lakes basketball team meeting up with the Carmel basketball team's press.

And let's just say that Lakes was wishing from the get-go that it could have quickly changed the channel.

With a full-court pressing defense that was downright wicked at times and almost never took a break, Carmel ripped through Lakes with ease en route to a 79-40 victory on the second day of the Mundelein Thanksgiving Tournament.

The Corsairs forced Lakes into 37 turnovers. Ten of them came in the first quarter, when Carmel reeled off the first 24 points of the game. Lakes scored two quick buckets in the waning moments to avoid the shutout, but was still shell-shocked, down 24-4 heading into the second quarter.

“It's pretty effective,” Carmel guard Doug Meyer said of the press, making perhaps the biggest understatement of the day. “It's just chaos. When we play great team defense like that all over the floor, the other team isn't sure of what they're doing.”

Meyer led all scorers with 21 points, including 3 three-pointers. Brandon Motzel (12 points) and Dan Feld (11 points) also scored in double-figures for the Corsairs, who move to 2-0 and are trying to turn over a new leaf under new head coach Tim Bowen.

It's been more than two decades since Carmel has had a winning season.

“We want to be better. We want to have a winning season so bad,” Meyer said. “We're willing to do whatever it takes. When (Bowen) came in and told us that we were going to press, everyone was fine with it. We bought into it.”

Hook, line and sinker.

The Corsairs look as if they've been working this press together for years, not just since the summer.

Their timing, communication and positioning was almost always spot-on against Lakes.

“A lot of it has to do with the fact that we have a lot of smart guys. We're athletic, too, but these guys are just so smart,” Bowen said. “They'll see rotations and things happening on the floor, while they're running, and then they'll come and tell us about them. You can do a lot when you've got smart players like that.

“I also think they're hungry. They feel like they're due for success. They want the victories, they want something to be proud of. They want to have traditions like our football and baseball teams. Pressing like this can be tiring and at first, I'm sure some kids were unsure about it. But now that we've had some success with it, I think they're thinking, ‘Hmm, there might be something to this.'”

The Corsairs opened the season with a win over Barrington on Monday and had another great experience with their press. They forced 17 turnovers in that game.

“That's just a really tough press,” first-year Lakes coach Chris Snyder said of Carmel. “They're so aggressive with it. They fly around the floor and they're so strong with it. If you make any lazy passes, that's it. They're all over it.

“We knew it was coming after watching them play Barrington. But we just weren't ready to play. They outplayed us and that's a hard lesson to learn.” The two baskets that Lakes finally got at the end of the first quarter came from Jay-Jay Elvir, a junior transfer from Zion-Benton. He wound up scoring a team-high 16 points on the game for the Eagles.

  Carmel’s Brandon Motzel drives past Lakes’ Justin Bergeron during their game Tuesday night at Mundelein High School. Steve Lundy/slundy@dailyherald.com
  Carmel’s Tim Hendricks and Lakes’ Direll Clark scramble for a loose ball during tournament play Tuesday night at Mundelein. Steve Lundy/slundy@dailyherald.com
  Carmel’s Dan Feld and Lakes’ Dan Pawlak bettle for a rebound during their game Tuesday night at Mundelein High School. Steve Lundy/slundy@dailyherald.com
  Lakes’ Dan Pawlak is cornered by Carmel’s Dan Mooney and Tim Hendricks during their game Tuesday night at Mundelein High School. Steve Lundy/slundy@dailyherald.com
  Lakes’ Dan Pawlak is cornered by Carmel’s Dan Mooney and Tim Hendricks during their game Tuesday night at Mundelein High School. Steve Lundy/slundy@dailyherald.com