Niles North pulls away from Carmel late

Almost every boys basketball game Carmel and Niles North have played this year has been in doubt into the final minutes.

Naturally, Monday night's final first-round game of the 33rd annual Wheeling Wildcat Hardwood Classic was no different as Carmel slashed a 13-point deficit into a two-possession game down the stretch.

But the result was all too familiar for Carmel (3-9) in a 68-58 defeat.

“We're the, ‘Oh so close team,' right now,” said Carmel coach Tim Bowen of his team which has lost six times by 5 points or less.

“We can't get over the hump,” said 5-foot-11 Carmel senior Doug Meyer, who had 13 points and three 3-pointers and helped hold 6-6 New Mexico bound Abdul Nader to 13 points on 3-for-10 shooting. “We play well and we play together as a team but it's not happening for us.

“Sometimes we go on a run and they go on a run but we can never finish off a run.”

It was a perfect description of the third quarter when Carmel went on an 11-2 tear to take a 36-35 lead. Meyer hit a 3 and Dan Mooney threw downcourt baseball pass to A.J. Gawin for a go-ahead layup.

Niles North (6-4) answered with a 9-1 burst started by Nader's 3-point play when he was double-teamed and fouled on a 17-foot jumper. Cassius Bell also scored twice as the Vikings showed they weren't just a one-man show against Carmel's trapping defense.

“When you play a team that presses and traps like they do you have to (share the ball),” said Niles North coach Glenn Olson after his team's biggest margin in a game all year. “We preached all week that the dribble will get you in trouble.

“You're still seeing a team in its developmental stages. The beautiful thing about this group is they play their tails off.”

So does Carmel, which comes back at 2 p.m. today to face Vernon Hills. Brandon Motzel had 16 points and Dan Feld had 15 points and 11 rebounds.

Feld's rebound basket got Carmel within 57-52 with 2:53 left but Malachi Nix countered with a 3 and put Niles North on its way to an 8:45 p.m. quarterfinal with Wheeling.

“We're not living on moral victories and we're trying to omit that this year,” Bowen said. “We're close but we can't finish.”