Carroll boys hoops enters playoffs on high note
The Carroll boys basketball team wrapped up the regular season with a solid win over L.D. Bell on the road, and coach Eric McDade said it was an important victory for his team.
The Dragons opened up the playoffs on Tuesday night vs. Cedar Hill after the press deadline, and McDade said that if his team wants to have postseason success, it will have to do well in certain areas.
“At this time of year, you’ve got to defend,” McDade said. “You’ve got be able to really guard, and I think that we’ve done that to this point. We’ve got to to that, you’ve got rebound the ball and you have to take care of the basketball.
“You also have to have some breaks along the way. We just need to control the things we can control and continue to get better. This is our version of March Madness here, so it should be a fun time.”
Carroll defeated L.D. Bell in its season finale last week, and McDade said that his team played well.
“We knew it was going to be a battle going in there,” McDade said. “Bell had the opportunity, if they beat us, to make the playoffs. We just wanted to try to make sure that we came in and were ready to go.
“The guys did a great job in a tough environment and under some difficult circumstances and pulled out a strong win. So they were real excited about that game.”
Stephen Blomstrom and Tyson Smiter led the team in scoring against Bell with 12 points a piece, while Jack McBride added 10 points in the game.
Joey McCormick, Sam Bourcy, Cooper Osburn, Blake Bischler and Matt Landers all combined for 15 points in the game for the Dragons.
McDade said on Saturday that he believes his district did a good job of preparing Carroll for the playoffs.
“You can’t say enough about our district,” McDade said. “The coaches do a great job, there’s a lot of talent on our district. So I feel like it’s got us primed and ready for a nice run in the playoffs.”
This story was originally published February 22, 2016 at 4:09 PM with the headline "Carroll boys hoops enters playoffs on high note."