On Saturday, March 20th, the Carmel Greyhounds traveled to Lafayette to take on the Gary West Side Cougars in a Semi-State battle with the winner advancing to the State Finals in two weeks. The #2 Hounds went into the game with a record of 24-2, while the #8 Cougars went into the game with a record of 22-4. The 6’ 10” junior Jalen Washington and 6’ 1” senior Quimari Peterson proved to be a tough duo for the Hounds 6’ 10” junior Charlie Williams and 5’ 8” senior Connor Gioia.

The game began with both teams hungry to get off to a hot start. However, both teams would be unsuccessful at this task for a low-scoring game at the end of the first. The Hounds were ahead of the Cougars with a score of 7-6. Charlie Williams was able to score 5 of the 7 with him and Peter Suder getting into a little bit of foul trouble early on with two apiece. Determined to maintain their early lead, senior Connor Gioia was able to put up four more in layups halfway through the second quarter. The score was 11-10. As the quarter came to a close Orme and Whack were able to knock in three-pointers within the last minute! Going into the locker room, the Hounds were leading the Cougars with a score of 19-15. Junior Charlie Williams had 5 points, seniors Brian Waddell and Connor Gioia 4 points, with Gioia, Williams & Suder in some foul trouble with each committing 2 fouls.

Coming back out for the second half with intents to continue this physical fight, the Hounds still found some foul trouble, as with five minutes to go in the third, Suder exited the game with his third foul, unable to score yet. The Hounds were still ahead with a score of 24-18. However, Quimari Peterson (Cougars) was able to close the gap for Gary West Side! At the end of the third quarter, Carmel 26, Gary West 24. 

With one quarter left to play, either team was not letting up. With five minutes to go in-game regulation, the game was tied at 31. However, the Cougars were able to power through the Greyhound defense and were able to take the lead by one with the score being 34-33. But, the Greyhounds weren’t done yet as Williams was able to go to the line and connect two free throws to give the Hounds the upper hand advantage. With more back and forth action, the Cougars exceled on an offensive rebound on a missed one and one. Carmel was ahead by 3 at this point. The Hounds had the ball with 1:36 left coming out of a timeout. Nevertheless, this game would go into overtime! The Cougars would steal in the press to tie it up. Gioia was called for an offensive foul with 40 seconds left. Gary West held for the last shot and missed off the back of the iron. 

With the game being tied at 40-40, four more minutes would be put on the board to see who would punch their ticket to Bankers Life for the State Finals. Sophomore Sam Orme was able to connect downtown as he was able to hit two threes from deep! Carmel would be up with a score of 46-44 with a minute to go! Gioia was able to send it home for the Hounds as he was able to knock in four free throws during the final minute! The Hounds would end up defeating Gary West Side by a score of 53-50! The Hounds will play in the State Finals on Saturday, April 3rd with tip-off being set for 8:30 p.m. WHJE will be on the call and you can listen here only at 91.3 WHJE or whje.com! Go Hounds!

Photo Credit to Jim Inskeep!