Carey brings the defense against New Riegel

CAREY — Carey went more than half of the first two quarters without a field goal.The Blue Devils scored just six points in the first 10 minutes, but Carey's defense kept it in the game.The Blue Devils kept New Riegel off the board long enough to build a double-digit lead and ride that momentum to a 48-39 non-league win over the Blue Jackets on Thursday."That is what we talked about from Day 1 of the season," said Carey coach Jamie Young. "With our late start and the kids we have, we knew last year's run started with our defense. They know that is what we have to do. We have to lock down in the half court."Carey (8-6) went 7:56 without a point in the first half and 8:23 without a field goal. By that point, the Blue Devils trailed 11-6, but New Riegel (9-5) went into its drought as Carey kicked it up a notch.Derek Lonsway broke the Blue Devils' scoreless stretch with two free throws before Landen Kemmerly's three-point play tied the game at 11. Lonsway followed that up with a driving layup and 3-pointer as Carey took a lead it would never relinquish.Reese Gosche hit two free throws for NR to break up a 6:38 scoring drought, but Alexander Putnam's hoop gave the Blue Devils an 18-13 lead at the break."We were playing really good defense," New Riegel coach Dave Losey said. "Midway through the second quarter, we had three or four straight possessions where we turned the ball over and didn't get a shot. We got in our own heads a little bit."Bryce Conti picked a steal and score on the first possession of the second half for Carey to further build on the margin. Jordan Vallejo scored down low and Conti added a triple to balloon the advantage to 25-14. New Riegel finally hit a field goal after 10:36 without one after Joe Tiell scored off of an offensive rebound with 4:01 left in the third quarter.Shane Hohman added a tally off of a Carey turnover before Logan Schalk drained a 3 to bring the Blue Jackets with 25-21. But, Vallejo scored on a putback and Anthony Bell's tally pushed the lead back to eight."We played hard," Losey said. "We were playing a little tentative on the offensive end. On the defensive end, I thought we were pretty sound. On the offensive end, I thought maybe we were waiting for somebody else to do something."NR again got within four points when Schalk opened the fourth quarter scoring, but Kemmerly and Vallejo scored before Bell was good for 3. That gave Carey its biggest lead of the night at 36-25.The Blue Jackets heated up from 3 over the final four-plus minutes, but Carey kept up the offensive balance to maintain a healthy margin. Schalk and Tiell each made two 3-pointers, but six points was the closest New Riegel got. Even then, Bell answered with a triple for Carey with 1:40 to go for a 45-36 lead."We were able to hit some shots," Young said. "The defense was causing New Riegel some trouble. The kids just played so hard. This is our ninth game in 16 days. Looking at them in the locker room, they looked like they were a little tired. Happy that we won, but physically tired."The Blue Devils jumped out to a 6-2 lead more than three minutes in. New Riegel scored the final seven points of the quarter over the final 5:15, including a 3 from Hohman for a 9-6 edge after eight minutes."We came out and didn't play well offensively," Young said. "They had a lot of energy. New Riegel came in here ready to play and they played hard. We knew they were going to play hard. That is what they always do. We wanted to try to match their intensity and I don't think we did that coming out of the gate."After a football state championship, Carey's season has been compacted into 22 regular-season games in 58 days."The kids have been awesome," Young said. "They come ready to play. We don't do much in practices. We do shoot-arounds, walk-throughs, and scouting reports here lately. The kids have been tremendous."Schalk topped the Blue Jackets with 12 points. New Riegel made just 15 of 40 shots and committed 19 turnovers."Offensively, we need to get better," Losey said. "We are stuck in this pattern against good teams. This is about how many points we score or a little more than this typically. Anytime you score 40 points a night, I don't care who you play, you are going to struggle to get a win."Kemmerly paced Carey with 10 points and five rebounds while Bell scored nine points. Vallejo added eight points and four rebounds and Lonsway contributed seven points."That is our team," Young said. "We don't have one guy that is going to go out there and get us 20 points a night or even 15. It's whoever's night it is. I like the saying that if we play the way we are supposed to play, everybody will get to eat."