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By the end of the third quarter Thursday, Carencro was up 57-29 on Northside, well on its way to its most lopsided victory of an already impressive season.
But even by the Bears’ standards – a team that so meticulously scouts their opponents that coach Chris Kovatch and his staff develop game plans for every opposing player – almost everything was going their way, especially in the third quarter.
Take for example the 3-pointer hoisted up by 6-foot-7 center Jeremiah August in transition. The shot appeared to be short, but it instead clanked the front iron and trickled in. Or take the dunk guard Demyras “Lou” Despanie tried to throw down on a fast break. He couldn’t flush it, but he pulled the rim down so hard that the ball bounced up and dropped through the net.
It was that kind of night for top-ranked Carencro (19-5).
“We always tell them, ‘If you play hard, things have a way of kind of taking care of themselves,’ Kovatch said of Carencro’s 82-53 victory. “So I guess we got the benefit of that tonight”
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Ironically enough, that stellar performance was only the second game the Bears have played in almost a month.
"This is kind of how we were playing earlier in the year," Kovatch said, "and by the time we got to the middle of December, we just didn’t have it there physically."
The Bears played 22 games before Christmas. To illustrate how much that is in comparison to other area teams, look no further than Carencro’s 21st game. When the Bears played Lafayette Christian in the semifinal of the LCA Showcase Classic on Dec. 22, Carencro had played 13 more games than the Knights.
Playing that many contests was not by design. The Carencro coaching staff signed the Bears up for tournaments this season thinking they would get roughly the same amount of games as they have in previous years. They ended up playing more because the Bears were winning, requiring them to pull out of the Allstate Sugar Bowl CYO Tournament to avoid going over the LHSAA’s game limit.
By the time Carencro entered the Showcase Classic, fatigue was starting to show. LCA outlasted the Bears in that semifinal, an epic overtime affair. The following day, University Lab squeaked by Carencro by a point in the third-place game.
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So the Golden Bears took time off – a lot of time.
They didn’t play again until Jan. 9, hosting the top-ranked team in Division V, Jehova-Jireh. It was only the second time the Bears had played at home all season.
“Not bad,” Kovatch said of how his team performed in a 59-52 win against the Warriors. “We executed what we wanted to execute in that game. It wasn’t our best or our cleanest performance.”
Perhaps rust was a factor after the long layoff, but the break was more important. Aside from getting healthier, there were areas in which the Bears needed to clean up, specifically shooting mechanics.
Most importantly, the veteran nature of this team prevented complacency from setting in during the break between games. Carencro has five seniors, all of which started Thursday due to freshman Joseph Charles’ season-ending injury.
“It comes back to being a senior-laden team – a team of maturity, a team that understand what we’re trying to do and how we’re trying to do,” Kovatch said. “We talk about that a lot. It’s not good enough to know that you’re going to win, but how you’re going to win. And they get that.”
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The shooting practice certainly helped against the Vikings, as the Bears canned nine 3-pointers. Despanie and fellow senior Nicholas Carmouche, who scored a team-high 20 points, each hit three triples.
Carmouche, the Bears’ point guard, was one of the players who benefitted most from the break. Kovatch said his offensive production decreased as the first half of the season dragged on.
“We ask a lot of him, and it kind of wore him down over the course of those 22 games,” Kovatch said. “Now he’s kind of getting back into his groove of what he’s capable of. So it’s big plus when your point guard can run the team and score.”
With Northside focusing their defensive efforts on Carencro’s other scorers, Carmouche took advantage.
“When they’re denying our two scorers,” Carmouche said, “somebody has to step up.”
North Vermilion Principal Tommy Byler joins Kevin Foote and James Bewers to talk about proposed changes to LHSAA regulations which could include fining teams who fight. David D'Aquin