Deep breath. The Carmel Greyhounds made it through the weekend before Christmas and came out 2-0. While neither win was absolutely huge, the Hounds got the job done like I said they would need to. Let’s dive in. 

Lots to take away from the Hounds win on 12/17 over the North Central Panthers. The Hounds won a low scoring bout 45-41 at home in a great environment. Not only was it loud from the Carmel side, the North Central fans and student section brought a great crowd and an electric environment. The first MIC game for the Hounds after they were voted out of the conference earlier in the week, the Panthers gave the Hounds everything they could handle. The Hounds led by 7 at the half and led by as much as 14, but once again showed their struggle to finish out games. The North Central trap proved to be too much at times over the last 4 minutes of the game as the Hounds just sought to run out the clock, the North Central ¾ court press got 3 steals in those final minutes that led to a North Central comeback. Had it not been for a few missed shots by the Panthers, we might be talking differently about this game. The biggest negative from a win? Only 4 Hounds scored, and not a single one was off the bench. Now to break down a few key player performances. First off, our Black Orchid Barbers Player of the Game was not Pete Suder this time, instead it was Sam Orme, who had his best ever game in high school. Orme finished with 20 points, shooting ⅚ from the field, and ¾ from three. Orme tallied a block, an assist, 8 rebounds, and a steal. Not only was Orme absolutely electric from behind the arc, he provided much needed energy and an offensive spark quite often. Orme never stepped off the court in the game, and was one of the only efficient scorers that the Greyhounds had. Suder was not by any means bad against NC, he just wasn’t his usual self. Suder was injured early in the week and didn’t participate in full practices all week, so it was no shock to see him in heavy ankle wraps and tape. 12 points, 4 assist, and 7 rebounds was Suder’s final statline however the main issue was his 6 turnovers. The turnovers didn’t become a burden on the Greyhounds until the second half and late in the fourth quarter when it started to let the Panthers back into the game. Overall, the Greyhounds were able to do what I said they needed to do: Just get the job done. As we’ll get into in a minute, neither win this weekend was pretty, but it got the job done. 

The night after the Eric Clark Activity Center was absolutely rocking, the arena was dead on Saturday night as there weren’t any students for either side, and not many fans around that too. I’m pretty sure everyone who attended the game against New Albany on Saturday night kind of questioned what it was that they had just watched. In the first half, the Bulldogs shot 9% from the field and 12% from three. These numbers totaled up to 3, (I REPEAT) 3 points in the first half altogether. Now the Greyhounds were not incredible, as they shot 36% from the field and 40% from three. The Hounds led by 10 at half, and that lead was reduced to zero in the fourth quarter before the Hounds ended up pulling away at the end to win by 12. 36-24 was the final score Saturday night against the Bulldogs. The bonus when playing in a game like this one is that you don’t have to make many shots to win. Talking about individual players, our Black Orchid Barbers Player of the Game for the first time this year was Josh Whack. Whack tallied 6 points, 6 rebounds, and an assist. While his statline wasn’t that impressive, he would single handedly shut down the New Albany offense at times, and his leadership was impressive all throughout the game. Whack made all four of his free throws which proved crucial down the stretch and he was overall quite impressive. Sam Orme tallied 9 points including 3 boards, 2 steals, and 6 total deflections. Orme was a hustle man all over the court all night and once again knocked down 4 free throws down the stretch to help ice the game as well. The only drawback to Orme’s game was his ⅕ shooting from the three point line. Pete Suder survived a scary fall late in the game and only tallied 6 points in the game. However he did have 7 rebounds and 2 steals. Possibly the most significant scoring of the night was the 6 points that Spencer White added for the Hounds. Having not scored since the Zionsville game, White was slumping mightily until 2 huge three-point field goals fell for him last night to give him 6 points. His teammates and coaches were quite excited for White, as they immediately jumped off the bench to greet him. White was struggling and these two shots were a huge swing in momentum for him that could lead to a great season the rest of the way for White. Overall, nobody was extremely efficient offensively for the Greyhounds, but the Hounds defense proved to be extremely solid against the Bulldogs. 

Winter break games are always tough for each team because teams tend to play other team’s that they know little about and don’t have much film on. There is also minimal fan support at these games and they tend to be quite risky for top-tier teams. Last year the Hounds planned on romping Barr-Reeve only for them to come in and take the Hounds to overtime. The Greyhounds next two games are against Valparaiso on Wednesday (12/22) and Anderson next Wednesday (12/29). These two games are very different as Valpo is a very solid team, and Anderson isn’t really a top tier team. While it is still a time to learn more about your own team, the Greyhounds can’t afford to drop either of these games, and coming out of break 8-2 would be huge for the Greyhounds.