Carmel 65, Benet 58
Long distance was the next best thing to being there for the Carmel boys basketball team and senior guard Jordan Sivertsen on Friday night.
The Corsairs only led visiting Benet 24-23 at halftime, but their best quarter of basketball of the season helped carry Carmel to a 65-58 East Suburban Catholic Conference victory over the Red Wings.
The Corsairs (4-18, 1-7) came out on fire in the third quarter as they hit 10-of-15 shots from the field (67 percent) to take their biggest lead of the contest into the final period at 52-35.
Sivertsen had 15 of his season-high 24 points in the second half while hitting seven 3-pointers overall. Carmel had 10 treys in the game.
Benet (8-8, 4-4) made a furious fourth-quarter comeback with a 3-pointer by Brian Gaughan capping a 14-2 run to cut the Corsairs' lead to 54-49 with 2:28 to play.
Eight turnovers helped the Redwings make their big late surge, but a 3-pointer by Sivertsen after a missed free throw ended the Carmel drought to give the Corsairs a 57-49 lead with 1:46 to play.
"We came out with a lot of energy in the third quarter and we stepped it up defensively," said Sivertsen. "I was just looking for open shots and after hitting the first one I knew I was on tonight."
Benet tried to put together one final push with a 3-pointer by Emmett Carrier cutting the gap to 63-58 with 30 seconds remaining. But 2 free throws by junior Tim Sachs gave the Corsairs a 65-58 advantage at the end of the game.
The game went back and forth the entire first half with the Redwings taking a 14-12 lead after one quarter.
Carmel's Ryan Kloss followed in his own rebound and scored with one second left in the second quarter to give the Corsairs the 24-23 edge at the intermission.
"I felt like we were able to switch a little defensively in the third quarter and Jordan shot the ball really well and helped extend the lead for us," said Carmel coach Jon Baffico. "I would say overall that was the best we've played against a quality opponent and for the most part the shots that were taken we were set and they were within the continuity of our offense."
Ryan Haggerty scored 11 of his team-high 20 points in the first half for Benet while Gaughan (12 points) and Alex Gasick also hit double figures for the Redwings.
Sachs was a big factor with 14 points with teammate Jack Baucus scoring 10 points. Kloss added 8 points as did Benet's Jono Davern.
"Benet is always a team that plays hard and sometimes when you have a big lead it is hard to protect," Baffico said. "But fortunately we were able to hit our free throws and win the game."