Carbon provides spark off the bench, Red Devils pressure their way to win past Evansville Christian

December 4, 2021 | 12:05 am

Updated December 4, 2021 | 12:20 am

Photo by Gage Johnson

Owensboro’s chaotic defense turned into offense all night, as they sped their way to a 93-77 home win over Evansville Christian.

Evansville Christian took it to Owensboro out of the gate, jumping out to a small 10-6 lead as the Red Devils couldn’t get a lot of spacing in their half court offense.

However, some three-point shooting quickly changed that for Owensboro, as they went on a 9-0 run and grabbed a 15-10 lead with 1:59 left.

It seemed as though the Red Devils would head into the second quarter in charge of the game, but three quick threes for Evansville Christian—including one banked in at the buzzer by sophomore Josiah Dunham—knotted things up at 21-21.

Junior Kenyatta Carbon opened up the second quarter by scoring five straight points for Owensboro, kickstarting its offene for the quarter.

With both offenses looking to push the ball in transition, a plethora of turnovers followed. However, it was Carbon for the Red Devils and Dunham for Evansville Christian that continued to find the bottom of the net.

Carbon finished with 13 points in the quarter to have 18 points at halftime, while Dunham poured in 16 points in the second quarter to go into the second half with 26 points.

Carbon’s play off of the bench really sparked a newfound level of intensity in the game for the Red Devils and Head Coach Rod Drake said his strength both mentally and physically were much needed.

“He’s just a tough kid…” Drake said. “We needed him tonight and he’s a bonus to have. He’s a great basketball player and he’s just physically and mentally tougher than some of these kids.”

Owensboro had the edge thanks to getting out in transition and some second chance opportunities, owning a 43-41 lead going into the third quarter.

Knowing that Dunham was creating the bulk of Evansville Christian’s offense, the Red Devils came out of the locker room ready to attack him defensively after giving him too much leeway in the first half.

“We were giving him too much space and then we were causally guarding him,” Drake said. “Second half we kind of went at him a little bit, started sending different people at him and kind of wore him down and got into his legs.”

Owensboro was able to do so, holding him to two points in the quarter by doubling him when he began to attack and making him work to find open teammates.

Meanwhile the Red Devils offense began to find its rhythm in the halfcourt, taking care of the ball and finding the gaps in the defense to finish at the rim. The strong play on both ends allowed Owensboro to go into the fourth holding onto a 67-58 lead.

In the fourth quarter Evansville Christian hung around making run after run when it seemed like Owensboro was just about to pull away.

Dunham had found a little bit of his groove again as well by working his way to the line, finishing with 13 points in the fourth.

However, the Red Devils were forcing plenty of turnovers with their fullcourt pressure, leading to buckets on the offensive end for players like Carbon and senior Amari Wales—who finished with nine points in the fourth and 18 in the second half.

Despite its best efforts, Evansville Christian couldn’t keep up with the speedy tempo of Owensboro and fell to the Red Devils 93-77.

“I think they wilted at the end,” Drake said. “I think we pushed it and pushed it and then our conditioning took over. We made a lot of ball-handling mistakes, but I’ll take the victory. They’re a good basketball team too.”

Carbon led the way for Owensboro with 28 on the night, while Wales second-half performance had him right behind with 27. Junior Talas Taylor also finished in double figures, running the floor and scoring 12 points in the second half to finish with 17 on the night.

Evansville Christian had four players finish in double figures, but it was Dunham who led the way with a whopping 41 points.

The win moves Owensboro to 2-0, as they now have a quick turnaround when they hit the road to take on Marshall County at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow in the Marshall County Hoopfest.

“They’re a good basketball team,” Drake said. “We’ll get in here in the morning and walk through and then we’ll get on the bus and play them at 1:30. We’ll just go down and compete. One thing I told our guys we’ve gotta be better defensively, because defense travels… That’s what our mentality has got to be.”

December 4, 2021 | 12:05 am

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