Wilson answers the bell as Carmel handles Marian Central
Considering the large amount of energy he brings to the basketball court, no wonder Carmel Catholic freshman Kimahri Wilson succumbed to sleep last weekend after a big win at St. Patrick.
He overslept and missed Saturday's practice, and that kept the point guard on the bench for the entire first quarter at Marian Central on Friday night.
"It's all right," said Corsairs coach Zack Ryan, who turned over his team's offense to Wilson at the start of the season. "He knows. He learned. He did a good job responding and had a great week of practice. He always plays hard."
Wilson usually plays well, too. He scored 6 of his 10 points in the second quarter against Marian Central, helping Carmel establish a double-digit lead en route to a 53-36 win in East Suburban Catholic Conference action.
Johnny Roeser scored a game-high 14 points and grabbed 7 rebounds for Carmel (15-7, 3-2), which won its fourth game in a row.
"I thought, offensively, we played one of our better games," Ryan said after his Corsairs shot 19 of 41 from the floor with seven 3-pointers. "The pace of the game was in our favor, just getting up and down and scoring and getting some open shots."
Carmel led the entire way after Evan Myers (9 points) hit the first of his three 3-pointers just 1:07 into the game to open the scoring. Roeser finished the first-quarter scoring with a long jumper followed by 2 free throws to extend the Corsairs' lead to 16-7.
Wilson started the second quarter and sparked an 11-0 run. The fresh freshman hit back-to-back midrange jumpers to start it and finished it with 2 free throws to make the score 27-13. Roeser's layup off a Jalen Snell dish had Carmel up 29-13 at halftime.
"I know my team's better when I'm on the floor," said Wilson, who also had 3 rebounds and 2 steals. "I just wanted to distribute and do what I do."
While defense has been a strength of the Corsairs all season, Ryan put in a 2-2-1 zone this week and employed it against Marian Central (8-14, 0-5), which shot just 6 of 19 in the first half.
"Just to get the game going a little faster for us," Ryan said. "We've played really good half-court defense and teams are taking longer possessions because they're trying to work to get a good shot. What we're trying to do to offset it is pressure a little more so we can get out on our break and let (Wilson) get out in the open floor."
Carmel has been playing half-court man-to-man defense and full-court man most of the season. Adding the 2-2-1 zone to the Corsairs' repertoire could keep paying dividends.
"I feel like that can work down the stretch because we're so long and athletic," Roeser said. "It can give teams a different look. I really like that zone."
DaMone Williams-Gray added 8 points and 9 rebounds for Carmel, which led by a many as 27 points in the second half.
Thomas Menner had a team-high 8 points coming off the bench for Marian Central.