(Photo by T. Scott Boatright)
By T. Scott Boatright
He might only be a sophomore, but Choudrant guard Carson Carrico was THE MAN Friday night he led the Aggies to a big win in the opening round of the Division V Nonselect Sch\ol boys basketball playoffs at the CHS gym
Carrico started strong and finished even stronger as 14th-seeded Choudrant rallied back in the fourth quarter to defeat 19th-seeded Reeves despite trailing by five points heading into the final eight minutes of play.
Reeves opened the contest with a 5-0 run in the first minute of the opening stanza before Carrico’s second 3-pointer and eighth point of the game tied things up at 8-8 midway through the quarter.
The teams traded leads of no more than two points until the Raiders went on a 12-0 run to close out the final four minutes of the first half to build a 46-34 advantage at halftime despite the fact that Carrico had already scored 17 points, with 15 coming off of 3-pointers.
“I’m not usually too emotional on halftime speeches but tonight I did get emotional just to challenge the team to keep playing, especially on defense,” Aggies coach Ryan Smith said. “It felt like we weren’t ourselves defensively tonight, especially in the first half. (The Raiders) did a great job of being active with their hands and making contact with the ball in the first half, so the message was two dibbles against the press, and pitch it off — if you go get the ball hard with two hands, I think we can win.
“Because that’s what they were relying on. We were being kind of soft with the ball. So we just kept going inside to (Aggies forward Mike Jones), and he was great. Just seeing how we could get it to him and draw attention with him and (Aggies forward Lawson Stevens) helped give us a lot of open shots. Tucker (Batteron) made a clutch 3-pointer, and Carson was just unbelievable.”
The Aggies slowly but surely pulled back into it in the third quarter, with four straight inside baskets by Jones cutting the Reeves’ lead to 48-45 at the 4:02 mark of the period.
But the Raiders picked their pace back up to close out the stanza, rebuilding a five-point lead at 59-54 heading into the fourth quarter.
A Batterton 3-pointer cut the Reeves’ lead to 59-57 only 25 seconds into the final stanza with a pair of baskets by Jones, tying things up at 61-61 with five minutes remaining.
Carrico was fouled on a 3-point attempt with 4:08 on the clock, but as he lofted his first free-throw shot, which bounced off the front of the rim, he went down clutching his right calf.
But he pulled himself up and hobbled back to the charity stripe and missed his second attempt before swishing his third shot through the net to give the Aggies their first lead since the 6:48 mark of the second quarter.
“The leg was still bothering me on those second two free throws but I kind of put my weight on my left leg on the last one,” Carrico said. “After that the other leg loosened up some down the stretch.”
Carrico’s performance didn’t surprise his head coach.
“As a sophomore, we’ve already seen that he thrives in moments like this,” Smith said about Carrico. “He wants the ball. He wants the moment. He;s not afraid and I’m just super glad he’s an Aggie. That was a huge game for him.
“When he cramped up the ref asked if we wanted to call a timeout and I looked at him and he said no. So he took the oth4re two shots before we gave him a quick breather (during which CHS assistant principal Geoffrey Underwood stretched out the cramp. Then Carson came back to the bench and told me he was ready and to put him back in.”
Reeves moved back on top 63-62 before Carrico launched another 3-pointer with 3:05 remaining.to give the Aggies a 65-63 advantage, but the Raiders tied it back up at 65-65 at the 2:35 mark of the final stanza.
A Jones layup and Stevens free throw pushed Choudrant back on top 68-65 with 2:08 left on the clock before another Raiders 3-pointer tied it up at 68-68 with 1:51 remaining.
But Carrico followed with his seventh trey of the contest to put the Aggies back on top, this time for good.
Choudrant closed things out with a short jumper by Stevens and three free throws by Carrico, with his final two free throws coming after the sophomore put the game away with a steal in the final 12 seconds of the contest.
Carrico finished with a career-best 32 points, including a 7-of-11 performance at the free-throw line.
“His intensity and willingness to fight is awesome,” Smith said about Carrico. I thought Mike and Lawson were great. Give credit to Reeves, because they hit some huge shots — some huge threes. Their coach does an awesome job there. It was a combination in the second half where we started finishing and (the Raiders) got a little cold shooting those big threes.”
Jones added 25 points for the Aggies, who also received 10 points from Batterton and six from Stevens.
“This one ranks up there big-win wise,” Smith said. “That was an unreal game until the end and I’m so proud of our kids and am so glad they got to experience something like this one. This is one they’ll remember the rest of their lives.”
