Photos; Basketball Standings; In-Game Thread
As the Gonzaga Purple Eagles squared off against the Archbishop Carroll Lions on Monday night, there were few people who believed Carroll could actually pull off such a large upset this early in the season.
By the end of the first quarter, those thoughts were long gone.
In a game in which Carroll could not miss a shot, Gonzaga hung tough behind its seniors Tyler Thornton (Duke) and Cedrick Lindsay (Richmond) and eventually came back from an early deficit and hung on in the end to beat the red-hot Lions, 64-59, in front of a nice crowd at the Carmody Center.
“You have to protect your home turf in this league,” said Gonzaga Head Coach Steve Turner on the importance of this game. “It’s the first league game so you want to get a win early, and we played and got one against a good team tonight.”
The game began with both teams starting off playing very differently. Gonzaga was playing tough defense and getting up and down the court; however, after two quick buckets to begin the game by Oliver Ellison, the Eagles struggled to score against the Lions stout defense. Meanwhile, Carroll’s junior tandem of Kenny Chery and Kemy Osse began to heat up and would never cool down for the rest of the game. Chery knocked down two tough three-pointers while Osse knocked down one of his own to give the Carroll Lions their largest lead of the game after the first quarter, 13-6.
With Gonzaga’s starters lacking any type of energy and passion, Coach Turner brought in freshmen Kris Jenkins and Nate Britt to help energize the team and get the score turned around, and they did just that. The very first play of the second quarter, Jenkins hits a tough lay-up, and then, back on the defensive end, Jenkins rose up and made a huge block, which led to a Tyler Thornton lay-up and the foul, and getting the Eagles right back into the game.
“I thought the young guys tonight gave us a big boost,” said Turner on the play of his two freshmen, Kris Jenkins and Nate Britt. “In the second quarter, Nate and Kris came in and gave us a little energy because they’re excited. It was their first WCAC game of their careers, and it was good to see them give us that energy that we needed.”
As the second quarter continued, the guards for each team began to stroke it from deep as Carroll’s Chery and Osse continued to knock down tough shots while Cedrick Lindsay was able to knock down two deep three-pointers for himself. The teams continued to trade baskets throughout the second quarter; Gonzaga just did not have an answer for Chery or Osse the entire game, let alone the first half. After having a late six-point lead in the second quarter, Carroll cut the lead to two by halftime, Gonzaga leading 24-22.
“Kenny Chery came in this year and Kemy Osse, both are from Montreal and have been playing with each other since they were twelve years old, so they know each other like the back of their hand, said Carroll Head Coach Michael Adams, who played for the Bullets in the early 90s. “They are two of the best guards in this league. Nobody knew about them until this game probably, but they will be recognized and they will get major scholarship offers down the road. Those are the two guys we are going to look to for scoring a lot of the points this year, along with other guys who are going to help them.”
As both teams came out to start the second half, Chery and Osse decided to take over for the Lions, and the two juniors put on a show. Whether they were knocking down step-back, fade away, or pull-up jumpers or just pulling up from well beyond the three point line, everything was going in from the two guards, especially for Kemy Osse who knocked down multiple deep threes with a hand in his face.
“They shot the lights out,” said Turner on Carroll’s shooting night. “One of my assistants said they were 80 percent from the three-point line. To beat a team that is shooting that hot, it’s a good win.”
As well as the Lions were shooting, Gonzaga stayed with them tit-for-tat, never allowing the Lions to get more than a couple points ahead of them. Malcolm Lemmons stepped up in the third quarter for the Eagles as he was able to make tough lay-ups and play defense on Osse for most of the game. By the end of the third quarter, both teams were neck and neck. Despite Carroll’s tremendous shooting night, Gonzaga was able to hang around, only down by one to begin the fourth quarter, 44-43 Carroll.
With the Eagles needing something extra to get them going, the Gonzaga student section finally came alive in the fourth quarter and it showed as the Eagles defense got just a little tighter and the Eagles started off the quarter with a quick 6-0 run with lay-ups from Malcolm Lemmons and Tyler Thornton, forcing Carroll to call timeout. However, coming out of the time out, the senior point guard for the Lions, Ahmad George, knocked down two huge threes along with one free throw to capture the lead back for the Lions, 51-49, with just over four minutes remaining.
“Every time somebody comes into our gym, they come at us with their best game, said senior Tyler Thornton. “They hit every shot they took, 80 percent from the three-point line, making a lot of contested shots, so it was hard for us in the beginning of the game, but the guys came off the bench with a lot of energy. Nate got a lot of on-ball steals, Kris had a lot of blocked shots on the defensive end, and that’s what really kept us close to the end.”
However, the senior leadership for the Eagles down the stretch proved to be the deciding factor in the game, for some costly turnovers and offensive fouls on the Lions gave Gonzaga a chance to take back the lead and hold off the hot shooting Carroll guards. After leading by three, 55-52, with two minutes remaining, a lay-up by Jenkins, followed by a pair of free throws for Lindsay, and finally, a lay-up by Thornton, the Eagles had the lead, 58-55, with just forty seconds to play. Each team traded free throws down the stretch, but the Eagles’ defense was too much to overcome for the Lions, who after outplaying the Eagles for most of the game, losing 64-59.
“I thought we outplayed them for thirty of the thirty-two minutes. When we were up by three, we had a chance to get a couple rebounds and we just didn’t get them, said Adams. “We were ready to play. We know that Gonzaga has a good team and it was a good measuring stick to how good we can be, and we just have to work on getting better,
Meanwhile, Coach Turner was happy with the win, and mostly because of how his team finished.
“It showed at the end of the game that we had a lot of poise,” said Turner after the game. “We didn’t let ourselves get rattled, being down, and I commend out backcourt, Tyler and Cedrick, to slow and settle us down, down the stretch. Different guys came up with big plays. I thought Malcolm made two huge plays on finishes down the stretch, but I think the bigger thing was that we never, ever give up. We didn’t allow ourselves to get down or erratic, and get out of what we do.”
While Gonzaga escaped from this game unscathed, this was not a situation where Gonzaga played poorly and Carroll got lucky by any means. This Carroll team is much improved and will make some noise in the WCAC this year, behind the play of their two stars, Kenny Chery and Kemy Osse.
Scoring Summary
GZ: Thornton 16, Lindsay 12, Lemmons 11, Ellison 10, Jenkins 8, Thomas 6
AC: Osse 20, Chery 17, George 12, Koffi 6, Weaver Jr. 4
