Carey boys' basketball rebounded after a shocking Dec. 21 loss to Clark County to rout Northside Conference foe Bliss 51-29 at home Tuesday night in the first game after the holiday break.
The Panthers are now 10-1 overall (5-0 Northside Conference) and face Richfield (7-1, 3-0), which shares first place with Carey in the Northside conference, tonight at 7:30 p.m.
Despite Tuesday's lop-sided win, Carey head coach Dick Simpson wasn't pleased with the first-half play.
"We were a little rusty, it's been a long vacation," Simpson said. "We were missing a lot of shots when we did get the ball.
"In the second half we got back to doing a little better job."
Bliss (3-3, 2-2) took advantage of numerous missed shots from Carey and led 10-9 at the end of the first quarter. It would be their last lead of the night, as the Panthers held the Bears to just four points in the second quarter and led 18-14 at the half. Carey poured it on in the second half, scoring 16 points in the third quarter and 17 in the fourth.
Junior Allen Peck scored a team-high 15 points followed by senior scoring leader Tyler Cook, who was held to just 12 points.
"They defended Tyler really hard, they had him boxed pretty well," Simpson said. "But he hung in there until things came to him."
Cook was 4/5 of five from the field, and 1/1 from behind the three-point line. The Panthers shot just 38 percent.
"It wasn't real pretty," Simpson said.
Simpson credited Bryan Hill and Devin Simpson with solid defense. Carey recorded 17 steals and Bliss turned the ball over 27 times compared to Carey's 15.
Jackson Burk led Bliss in scoring with eight points. David Butler and Eli Gough each contributed six points.
Bliss hosts the Community School tonight, while Carey travels to Richfield for a grudge match with last year's conference champs, also tonight.
"This is a big game, we're both undefeated in the conference," Simpson said. "They are a good ball club.
"We have to play them tough to beat them."
Carey and Richfield tip off at 7:30 p.m.
