Beat-up Blue Devils can’t keep up with Eagles this time

By BRIAN HEMMINGER
City editor

CAREY — Carey’s boys basketball team has overcome adversity all season.

Despite losing senior Nic Putnam to a knee injury before the season even started, the Blue Devils managed to split the Northern 10 Athletic Conference championship.

But injuries and illness were too much for Carey to overcome Tuesday in a 59-37 loss to Liberty-Benton in a Division III sectional semifinal matchup at Carey.

“I feel for Carey,” Liberty-Benton coach Doug Whiteman said. “I think coach (Jamie) Young does a great job. His son Brayden got a raw deal with his foot. They had all kinds of injuries. I really feel for those kids at Carey because they’re tough kids.”

On top of Putnam, Carey (14-9) lost slashing forward Austin Niederkohr to an injury in the final game of the regular season Friday against Upper Sandusky. Top post player Butch Brodman had seven points in the first half Tuesday but was unable to play in the second half after sustaining an ankle injury. Starting guard Kyler Boes was battling an illness and while Brayden Young was able to return to the floor from a broken foot, he still wasn’t back to 100% for the tournament. 

“We weren’t the team we started the season with,” coach Young said. “It sucks for those guys, especially the seniors. I hurt for them because I wish we could have done better today. It’s just the journey we went through this year with all the adversity. We overcame it for the most part. Just today, they were on it and we had some struggles.”

Liberty-Benton jumped out to an early lead against Carey in the first quarter, forcing Young to call a timeout with his team trailing 12-3. 

“We didn’t get off to a good start,” coach Young said. “They got out on us and we didn’t have the sense of urgency to get back. Usually our 1 and 2 get back the second a shot goes up, but we were late to the show to do that, which led to a lot of easy buckets.”

Liberty-Benton led 14-3 at the end of the first quarter, but Carey got back into the game by being more aggressive on offense in the second quarter, forcing eight fouls from the Eagles and making 10 of 11 free throws in the quarter. 

“We came back the way we do and made a run at it,” coach Young said. “We did what we were supposed to do with getting the ball inside. That’s what our game plan was. It worked.”

Carey got as close as six points, trailing 25-19, but a 5-0 run from Liberty-Benton put the Eagles up 11 before Carey’s Dominic Yeater made an alley-oop putback at the halftime buzzer to make it 30-21 at the break.

Normally one of the most composed offenses in the area, Carey was harassed on the perimeter by an aggressive Liberty-Benton man-to-man defense, which forced several uncharacteristic turnovers. The Blue Devils committed 15 turnovers overall in the game. 

“We hang our hat on our defense,” Whiteman said. “That’s our bread and butter. Our guys pride themselves on that. We were able to get out in some passing lanes and really shrink the driving lanes. Our guys played with tremendous energy.”

Trailing by nine at the half, Carey needed to start the third quarter strong, but the opposite happened. Liberty-Benton scored nine points on its first four possessions, including a thunderous dunk from Carson Conaway after he beat a defender on a cut through the middle of the lane, forcing a Carey timeout.

The Blue Devils were unable to stop the bleeding, eventually getting outscored 19-2 in the third quarter as Liberty-Benton extended its lead to 49-24 by the end of the frame. 

“It kind of snowballed there in the third quarter,” coach Young said. “They made shots and we didn’t. In that third quarter, we only scored two points and in the first quarter, we only scored (three).”

Liberty-Benton finished the game shooting 24 of 42 (57.1%) from the field while Carey shot just 10 of 37 (27%) from the field. 

The Blue Devils did not make a 3-pointer in the game.

“(Carey has) such special shooters that any mistake we’ve made against them, they always made us pay,” Whiteman said. “Our game plan was to get out on them and take away the 3 and our guys did a great job executing that.”

Liberty-Benton was paced by Jake Gerken, who scored 23 points. Conaway added 19 for the Eagles while Zach Elchert had 11 points despite also playing through an injury.

“Zach Elchert is an absolute monster,” Whiteman said. “He’s playing with a broken thumb and he still seems to get a hand on every loose ball. I thought that was one of his best games of the year.”

Carey was led by eight points from Mitch Boes. Brodman had seven points and Carter Smiley, Alex Putnam and Yeater had six points each. 

With the loss, Carey says goodbye to a heavy senior class that includes Smiley, Alex Putnam, Nic Putnam, Brodman, Niederkohr, Yeater, Brayden Young and Mitch Boes. 

“This senior class was amazing to work with,” coach Young said. “I looked forward to this year for so long. These kids just fought and battled and they never, ever complained about anything. We had eight seniors and they always came to play. I never had to get on ’em. It was a great group of kids and I’ve watched them since they were little kids. It was a fun ride. … I couldn’t be mad about how our season went at all.”

LIBERTY-BENTON (14-9): Gerken 10-2-23, Conaway 9-0-19, Z. Elchert 4-1-11, Holler 1-2-5, Hochstettler 0-1-1. Totals 24-42 6-12 59.

CAREY (14-9): M. Boes 3-2-8, Brodman 3-1-7, Smiley 0-6-6, Putnam 1-4-6, Yeater 2-2-6, K. Boes 1-0-2, Steen 0-2-2. Totals 10-37 17-19 37.

3-point goals: Z. Elchert 2, Holler, Gerken, Conaway.

Score by quarters

Liberty-Benton        14              16              19              10              — 59

Carey    3                18              2                14              — 37