Carey holds off Tigers, remains 1 game back of N10 lead

CAREY — Carey went 8-for-8 at the free throw line in the final minute of the game to extend a one-possession lead over Seneca East into a 52-43 win in Northern 10 Athletic Conference play.After Seneca East's Luke Mason made two free throws to get the Tigers within three points of Carey (8-6, 8-1 N10) with 1:52 left in the game, the Blue Devils began to stall the clock. Seneca East had just clawed its way back from 10 points behind earlier in the quarter—part of that thanks to Mason making 8-of-9 foul shots over a three-minute stretch in the final period.After trapping a Carey player, Blue Devils coach Zach Bame called a timeout with 1:06 remaining. The Tigers needed to commit three quick fouls off inbounds passes to get into the bonus and put Carey at the charity stripe in hopes of getting the ball back with 42.4 seconds.The Blue Devils' Brayden Kitzler converted the first of two free throws. Mason went straight to the rack for two quick points. Seneca East stopped the clock with a timeout at 34.8 ticks to go.Carey senior Kyler Boes was fouled and swished two straight foul shots as the clock sat at 31.6 seconds. Evan Kinn was fouled by the Tigers after a defensive rebound before hitting the next two free throws with 23.9 left. Kitzler made the last two from the line with 11.7 to go in the contest."I think we were like 1-for-16 shooting three pointers," Bame said. "We kind of told them, 'Hey that's not really our game'."Bame told the players that's something they need to keep improving on, but if they couldn't make any shots from outside then to attack the basket."Because we got guys that can attack," Bame continued, "and when we hit free throws like that, it makes us hard to guard."The game was competitive throughout with Boes scoring off the dribble from the left elbow then stealing the ball and going coast-to-coast for the right-handed layup off the glass early in the game to give the Blue Devils a 4-0 lead.Seneca East (13-4, 8-2) answered right back with a short shot from Mason and then Landyn Hicks put back an offensive board on consecutive possessions to tie the game back up.Tiger freshman Jaron Depinet drew contact in the lane while making a bucket. Depinet then made the free throw for an old-fashioned three-point play.The Blues Devils then went on a 6-0 run, scoring on four straight possessions starting with Boes and Chase Stone making one-of-two foul shots each—by Boes and sophomore Chase Stone respectively—to make it 7-6 Tigers with just under three minutes left in the first quarter.That's when Boes took a charge that led to Tripp Phoenix spotting up from inside the arc to give the Blue & White an 8-7 lead. Boes capped the run with a putback from an offensive rebound.Seneca East's Mason made a free throw only to be answered at the other end by Kinn dribble-penetrating for a layup. The Tigers' Hicks scored at the rim off dribble penetration himself to end the first quarter, 12-10 in favor of Carey.Hicks came right out on the Orange & Black's first possession of the second quarter and pump faked defenders at the hoop for another easy bucket to tie things up.It took a couple minutes before the Devils regained the lead when Kitzler threw the ball ahead to Bekkem Sherman for a fast break layup. However, Seneca East's Depinet knocked down a contested jumper to go right back to a tied game.Then, Carey's Kitzler drained a three from the right wing. A Tiger fastbreak layup by Mason then a single foul shot made by the Devils' Stone gave the Blue & White an 18-16 advantage with 3:51 remaining in the first half. A minute later, Carey's Kinn scored on a fast break layup. Seneca East's Ayden Perkins then dropped a trey from the right wing to make it a one-point game.After that, Carey finished the half on a 5-0 run—all free throws. Phoenix made two, Kinn one-of-two before getting back to the line and hitting his final two attempts to give the Blue Devils a 25-19 halftime lead.The second half started off slow with the Tigers' Depinet and Logan Price converted a foul shot a piece over the first couple of minutes of the second half. It wasn't until a minute later before the Carey's Boes stole the ball and went all the way for the left-handed layup.Midway through the third, Seneca East's Perkins tacked on his second three-pointer of the game to make it 27-24.Shortly thereafter, the Blue Devils' Kinn snagged a defensive board and threw is ahead to Phoenix for a quick layup. After a timeout, the Tigers responded when Mason chucked the ball inside to Depinet for points in the paint. Carey then scored five points over their next three offenses. A foul shot made by Carey's Stone was followed by a baseline jumper from Phoenix and a short jumper from senior Chase Mullholand to cap the run. Carey led, 34-26.On the ensuing possession, Seneca East's Hicks pump faked defenders and then banked it inside the bucket. The Blue Devils' Kinn scored at the rim off dribble penetration to end the third quarter with a 36-28 lead.To start the final period, Carey senior Carter Bame moved the entire Tiger defense with a pass fake that left space to dribble and knock down a long two-pointer.Seneca East's Depinet scored inside, and the Tigers then tried to trap the Devils defensively. Boes found Kitzler open through the trap and Kitzler finished at the rim to make it a 10-point differential.That's when Seneca East started to get to the line for a run of free throws over a several minute span that included Mason's eight-of-nine attempts. Carey's Sherman scored in the lane and Boes scored inside while the Tigers' Depinet made one-of-two from the line, and Hicks dropped one in from the right elbow to round out the scoring in the final period before Carey's final free throw run.Seneca East coach Anthony Langhurst gave credit to his players for being down double digits to getting it to a one-score game late in the contest. "We did a nice job of speeding them up a bit," Langhurst said. "Overall, their defense did a nice job of limiting our role players."Boes led the Devils with 13 points and Kinn contributed 11 as well.Seneca East's top scorer was Mason with 15 points while Depinet had 11 and Hicks put in 10 points towards their cause.The Blue Devils sit one game behind N10 front runner, Colonel Crawford (13-1, 9-0).