Luke Evans nearly gets triple-double as Carroll beats Derby in tournament opener
Bishop Carroll’s Luke Evans reared back and launched a long pass down the court to Carsen Pracht, and Derby was caught on the press.
Pracht caught the pass over his shoulder, pumped toward the basket and sent his Panther defender flying by. Pracht dumped the ball in with the same ease the Eagles had in their play throughout the 76-63 victory Thursday in the first round of the McPherson tournament.
Evans was a floor general. He finished with 17 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists, one shy of the first triple-double of his career and of Carroll coach Mike Domnick’s coaching career. Evans had no idea.
“Really?” Evans. “Not bad. I don’t even know if I’ve had a double-double. I’ve probably had a couple but not that many.”
He assisted on more than half of the Carroll’s buckets, which forced Derby to push out against Evans’ supporting cast. They had fits with Evans’ versatility. To start the game, he finished off a couple of uncontested layups. As Derby started to collapse its defense, he popped out and hit a few threes.
Domnick said with a couple of freshmen and almost an handful of sophomores pushed into playing time because of injuries, Evans has turned into a special senior.
“He’s so unselfish,” Domnick said. “You don’t see anything about him where you’re like, ‘Oh, wow, really?’ That’s what I’ve been blessed with this year.”
Both teams came in hovering a touch above a .500 win percentage. And Carroll came out soaring.
“When we shoot well and we defend, we’re a tough out,” Domnick said. “When we beat Southeast, I started thinking, ‘You know what, this team has a chance, and if the kids would buy into what we’re trying to sell, I think we could be really special.’ ”
The Eagles finished uncontested buckets all game, and though Derby cut the Carroll lead to 25-22 early in the second quarter, by the a minute into the third the lead was up to 20.
Derby coach Brett Flory said some of the team’s struggles defensively are a byproduct of four first-year transfers. Although the transfers contributed for 70 percent of the Panthers’ points, they were often caught out defensively with a lack of communication.
“We’re not very good defensively, at least we weren’t today,” Flory said. “… Bottom line is you can’t give up 76 points and win. Teams we’ve had in the past, you score 63 points and they’re winning that game 9.5 times out of 10.”
Derby (5-4) made another comeback late, getting within single-digits in the fourth, but there seemed to always be an open man for Carroll. The Eagles were hitting from all angles with six players finishing with at least eight points.
Domnick said that is what makes Carroll so dangerous, and Flory said that’s what made Thursday’s game such a tough match-up. Some players are having to perform out of their natural fits on the floor, Flory said, but the team just isn’t getting it done.
“People have been taught since Biddy Ball to defend help side,” Flory said. “They’ve been taught since they started the game to box out and rebound, so it’s just a commitment to it.”
Carroll (6-4) has wins over Southeast and Derby away from its home court this season. Although the Eagles have a few marks on their resume with losses on the road at North and at home against Northwest, they have won five straight and six of their past seven.
Evans and Domnick said they know the potential Carroll has in the City League and beyond.
“There was a lot of questions as to how we’d do this season,” Evans said. “But we knew, we have all these young guys and we’re hanging with some of the top guys in the City League, we have a chance to do something special this season. This just enforces that.”
This story was originally published January 18, 2018 at 5:48 PM with the headline "Luke Evans nearly gets triple-double as Carroll beats Derby in tournament opener."