Carmel calmly takes control against Montini

Accompanied by a smirk, he just kind of looked around at his teammates and rolled his eyes as if to say, "I can't believe I just did that, but yet, everything is still going to be OK."

Sure enough it was, because after his two missed free throws, just a couple of possessions later Carmel Catholic 6-foot-8 senior center Sean Foster took a pass from freshman forward Jonathan Roeser while in mid-air and converted it into a beautiful layup.

This was late in the fourth period, and by that point it didn't matter score-wise because the Corsairs had the game in hand while rolling to an 80-53 nonconference home opener victory over Montini Catholic.

Despite the lopsided win, there's an important message here though, and Zack Ryan and the boys are reading it loud and clear.

"We're really working together and keeping each other up," said Foster, a football standout. "Even when things aren't going well, we still keep our heads up and encourage each other and just try and come back and make a good play."

This formula Foster and his running mates have put together has resulted in a 4-game winning streak, after starting the season 0-3.

"Much faster starts has also been huge for us too," added Foster, who wound up pumping in 12 points to go along with 10 boards. "Everyone is doing their part and we're having a lot fun out there."

Everyone certainly did their part on Saturday night.

An outsized and fairly young Montini bunch came out on fire and grabbed an early 14-8 advantage. Senior center Kevin Brachmann (9 points) tossed in 6 points during the run, and the Broncos had visions of spoiling Carmel Catholic's home opener.

But the fast start Foster alluded to kicked into high gear as Carmel Catholic answered that run with a 15-0 burst of its own. Senior guard and Western Illinois commit CJ Duff, who led all scorers with 16 points, capped the spree with a nifty layup. Duff had 4 points during the outburst, while senior guard Shareif Belser-Bailey (14 points) drained two 3-pointers, as did senior forward Matt Stephens (12 points).

"We definitely have been getting off to faster starts," said Ryan. "We're really working on our conditioning and trying to play faster the entire game. I was really happy with our intensity the entire game."

The Corsairs' run definitely took the wind out of the Broncos sails, something Montini coach Daryl Thomas was concerned about before the game.

"We started well, but we knew they were going to pressure us and shoot the 3s," said Thomas, whose team fell to 1-5. "For whatever reason, we just fall apart. That's due to inexperience and needing to be more mentally tough. It's a tough pill to swallow right now, but eventually we're going to be good - as long as we keep getting better each game."

Carmel had built as much as a 16-point advantage on several occasions in the third quarter, but Montini hung around and got to within 12 points of the lead (50-38) with 2:46 left in the third.

That was as close as it got, as the Corsairs erased any comeback hopes by outscoring the Broncos 30-15 the rest of way.

Freshman guard Raymond Dennis (9 points) and sophomore guard Jayston Williams (12 points) each chipped in 6 in the third for Montini.

"We had a lot of unforced turnovers and made some bad decisions, but I was happy with how we came back a little bit (in the third)," added Thomas, whose team committed 21 turnovers to Carmel's 9 on the evening.

Carmel also held a big advantage on the boards, out-rebounding Montini 30-15.

Junior guard Brian Julien popped in 10 points, including 6-of-6 from the free-throw line, to join five Corsairs in double-figures.

Speaking of the foul line, Carmel was pretty good in converting 21-of-24 for the game.