Nice outcome for Morrissey, Montini against Carmel

Having already granted his coach's request to shoot the basketball more, Montini's Matthew Morrissey faked a one-handed heave from half-court after the final buzzer sounded.

Another long-range shot wasn't needed from the 6-foot-4 junior, whose clutch shooting down the stretch helped the Broncos pull out a 68-58 win over Carmel Catholic in a nonconference game Saturday night in Mundelein.

"Finally," a smiling Montini coach Daryl Thomas said of Morrissey after the Broncos improved to 5-1. "I've been begging the kid to shoot. He won't shoot the ball. He's too nice."

Sophomore Raymond Dennis (three 3-pointers) and junior Mychale Hyland (two 3s) led Montini with 19 and 18 points, respectively, while Morrissey finished with 15 (three 3s) and 9 rebounds, despite picking up a pair of fouls in the first quarter. Morrissey sank back-to-back 3-pointers in the fourth, the first of which snapped a 55-55 tie with 2:10 left.

Those were downright mean to Carmel (2-5), which had erased an eight-point deficit in the fourth and had gone ahead 51-50 on a 3-pointer by sophomore Evan Myers.

"Coach gave me confidence, telling me every day in practice to shoot," Morrissey said.

Carmel had its own shooter awaken. Sophomore Johnny Roeser scored a season-high 21 points (three 3-pointers) and grabbed 12 rebounds.

"I had a slow start to the season and our coaches kept believing in me," said Roeser, who played on varsity as a freshman. "So I just went out and shot more for them."

Roeser came out firing, scoring 10 points in the first quarter thanks to two 3s and a pair of aggressive drives to the basket.

"He wanted the ball the whole time and competed," Carmel coach Zack Ryan said. "He played well."

A 40-40 game after three quarters saw Montini go up 50-42 with 5:56 left after Dennis sank a 3-pointer and then completed a three-point play.

But Myers, who was coming off a 25-point game against Cary-Grove two nights earlier, hit a 3 to start a 9-0 run for the Corsairs. Two free throws by Brian Julien, who missed the C-G game because of a sprained ankle, tied the score at 55-55 with 2:27 to go.

Then it was Morrissey who put the momentum in the Broncos' favor for good. He also sank 2 free throws with 10 seconds left. He scored 10 points in the final three minutes.

"Yeah, I like those situations," Morrissey said of his big 3-pointers in the fourth. "It's a fun atmosphere when you're playing in a close game and you make a big shot and everyone goes crazy."

Montini scored 28 points in the fourth, sinking 7 of 13 shots (four 3s).

"They got their shots off us not playing defense," Roeser said. "We played our help-side defense at the beginning of the game and that's when we had a lead, but we started having breakdowns."

Montini also got 8 points off the bench from sophomore Anthony Thompson. Carmel's John Barr helped hold Jayston Williams (9 rebounds) to 2 points. The Broncos, who went 4-0 at Northridge Prep, had lost to DePaul College Prep Friday night.

"It was a very good game for us, especially after playing DePaul Prep," Thomas said. "We didn't play our game (Friday) night. Actually, DePaul really, really played well. We just have to be able to sustain the intensity of other teams, and I think we did a good job of that (against Carmel)."

Myers finished with 14 points (four 3-pointers) for Carmel, and fellow sophomore Lukas Galdoni had 11 points and 8 rebounds.

"We just got to defend a little harder and compete a little harder at the end," Ryan said. "That's the difference."