Boys Basketball: Defense propels St Viator past Carmel

Updated: January 13, 2012 11:18PM

St. Viator rode the backs of its suffocating defense to a 66-52 victory Friday night over Carmel.

Carmel was held to two buckets in the first frame and couldn’t recover as the Lions’ smothering defense left little breathing room for the Corsairs to work with offensively.

St. Viator put Carmel in an early 18-point hole as its offense came out firing following the holiday break.

“We had a long break to think about how our tournament ended in Wheeling,” St. Viator coach Mike Howland said. “They played great basketball in the holiday tournament but we came up short. We got our swagger back tonight.”

The Corsairs (6-10) used a 16-7 run to open the third quarter and climbed back within six points. St. Viator’s swarming defense clamped down yet again and weathered the comeback attempt.

“The main thing we’ve talked about is staying on top of things defensively,” Howland said. “That’s where it all starts. Tonight we got contributions across the board.”

Freshman Mark Falotico led the Lions with 17 points coming off the bench and Howland said the underclassmen gave his team a “monster lift.”

Brandon Motzel had a game-high 20 points for the Corsairs and said he felt his team had a chance to take momentum in the third quarter.

“We fought back,” he said. “In the third quarter we were right there. We let it slip.

“Viator played great defense and they were in our faces all night,” Motzel added.

Chris Myjak added 15 points for the Lions (11-2). Corsairs senior guard Conor Jordan notched 12 points.

Carmel coach Tim Bowen said he was pleased with how his team battled back.

“We kept clawing back but we just couldn’t string together enough stops,” he said. “We needed that big stop. We just couldn’t finish tonight.”

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