You can't win if you can't put the ball consistently in the hands of your leading scorer.
That's what a very good Community School boys' basketball team found out Tuesday night when faced with the ball-hawking pressure defense of the Carey Panthers, at Carey.
Idaho 1A #2-ranked Carey (13-2, 8-1 league) improved its home record to 7-0 and stretched its current winning streak to five with a convincing 60-42 home Northside Conference win over the Fish (9-4, 5-4).
Carey, a 63-34 winner in Sun Valley Dec. 14, swept the season series with the Cutthroats, who lost back-to-back games for the first time all season.
Senior post Mac Whittington (19.8 ppg) was limited to a season-low 11 points by Carey's double-down defense that denied entry passes, cut off passing lanes and put itself in better rebounding position.
Carey got scoring from six different players and led 21-7 after one quarter. The Panthers upped their lead to 38-16 at halftime and extended it to 29 points in the third quarter.
Dick Simpson, Carey's head coach, said afterwards, "The kids played real well with their defensive pressure in the first half. We wanted to apply so much pressure that they couldn't get the ball to Mac."
Carey shot 52 percent from the floor compared to 33 percent for the Cutthroats. Turnovers also played a big role. The Cutthroats made 21 of their 29 turnovers in the first half, and Carey came up with 17 steals.
The Community School led in one category, rebounds, with a 35-24 edge, Whittington pulling down 8 of his game-high 18 rebounds in the fourth period.
Senior D.J. Simpson scored a game-high 23 points for Carey and had a fine all-around game with 8 rebounds, 5 steals and 8 assists. Playing hard close to the basket, Simpson ended up 7-for-10 at the free throw line.
In all, eight Panthers scored.
Contributors were Tyler Parke (10 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals), Trevor Peck (three 3-pointers, 2 boards, 2 steals), Kade Peterson (7 points, 3 steals), Blake Whitby (4 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists), Dillon Simpson (4 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists), Heith Adamson (2 points, 2 steals, 2 assists), Scott Ellsworth (1 point, 2 steals) and Tyler Wilde (2 boards).
Cutthroat contributors were Whittington (11 points, 18 boards, 2 steals), Spencer Harris (11 points, 3 rebounds), Ian Ingram (9 points), Albarran (4 points, 4 rebounds), Max Harris (3 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals), Lucas Vorsteveld (2 points, 2 boards, 2 steals) and Travis Stone (2 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 4 assists).
The Community School played its biggest game of the season Thursday night at Shoshone (7-8, 4-4).
Carey hosts Dietrich (6-11, 4-5) tonight and has its home rematch with #1-ranked Richfield (14-0, 8-0) Tuesday, Jan. 29. Dietrich won 67-42 at home over Camas County Tuesday while Richfield survived the Shoshone slowdown and took a 28-23 league win on the Indian court, also Tuesday.
