Meyer, Carmel finish on a high note

Every basketball team has some physical wounds by now.

Carmel guard Doug Meyer exposed one of his when he tore the tape off his right hand Thursday. The tape was supposed to help stabilize his sprained thumb.

But the tape was doing more harm than good. He said it threw off his shooting.

Shortly after Meyer removed the tape, he stroked a picture-perfect 3-pointer that helped Carmel put away a 60-54 victory in the third place game of the consolation bracket of the Wheeling Wildcat Hardwood Classic.

Carmel improves to 5-10 on the season.

“That one felt good coming off my hands,” said Meyer, who paced the Corsairs with 13 points. “We needed that bucket.”

Carmel also needed a victory. It helped soothe some other wounds, the mental and the emotional wounds that were still stinging the Corsairs from the night before.

On Wednesday, Carmel fell to Maine West 44-42 in overtime. A win would have put the Corsairs in the consolation championship game against Stevenson.

The overtime loss was Carmel's sixth overtime loss of the season. And each of those losses was by 3 points or less, including the 2-point loss to Maine West.

“I think we're still in shock from the Maine West game,” Carmel coach Tim Bowen said. “I think that took a lot of wind out of our sails. Maine West is a super good team and for us to be right there and have a lot of opportunities is really good for us.

“But we just haven't been able to get there yet. And that's a frustration. To have all of those overtime losses and all of those close losses, there are a lot of wounds out there, a lot of scars we're trying to fix. You've got to hand it to our kids, though. A lot of people would have quit. They haven't. They're still trying, still working.”

The Corsairs got straight to business against Kenwood, taking a 19-7 lead at the end of the first quarter. Meyer had 8 points in the period, including 2 3-pointers.

Kenwood outscored Carmel 13-7 in the second quarter but the Corsairs still owned a 26-20 lead at the halftime break.

Carmel pushed its lead to as many as 16 points in the third quarter and Bowen was able to get most of his reserves some valuable minutes.

But Kenwood showed some signs of life in the fourth quarter and took its first lead of the second half on two Robert Siler free throws. Siler,who finished with 16 points, put the Broncos ahead 47-46 with 3:15 left to play.

But then Meyer hit his big 3-pointer and scored a layup in transition to put the Corsairs out in front again 51-47. Guard Tim Hendricks helped Carmel ice the victory by hitting 9-of-10 free throws in the final 1:40.

Hendricks finished with 12 points and was the only other player to reach double-figures for the Corsairs.

Kenwood also got 12 points from Afure Obeabor.

“We just kept at it, playing hard,moving the ball around,” Meyer said. “We played as a team and were able to get the win. We're a little disappointed, especially after that loss (to Maine West) on a last-second shot. But I think we're starting to turn it around.”