Journal-News.com

DAYTON — Tuesday night, Feb. 17, it was a lead the Badin High School boys basketball team couldn't hold on to.

Wednesday night, it was the basketball.

The Rams committed 22 turnovers against host Dayton Carroll, including eight in the fourth quarter, and fell 64-56.

"A couple of times we didn't get the rebounds off missed free throws, and a couple of times we did but we let them slap it away," Badin coach Nick Argentati said. "They were just scrappier than we were. We have to be a little bit stronger with the basketball."

The loss was the Rams' fourth in a row, dropping them to 8-11 overall and 5-8 in the Greater Catholic League Central Division. The Patriots improved to 9-10, 3-6 GCL North.

"This game was huge for us because it was a league game, and Carroll, in the history of the GCL, hasn't won many league games," Patriots coach Dennis Wahle said. "Badin's a quality team with solid players, so this win is very important to us."

As was the case Tuesday night in the home loss to Dayton Christian, the Rams jumped out to an early lead only to watch the opponent come storming back with a big run.

Carroll used a 13-0 spurt in the second quarter to take a lead it would never relinquish.

"I think last night's loss was tougher to take because we had the game won," Argentati said, referring to a 57-56 setback against Dayton Christian in which the Warriors scored the game's final five points.

"Tonight, from the second quarter on, we were chasing them the whole game," he continued. "I never really thought we were close enough to grab the game tonight."

Badin trailed by as many as 14 in the third quarter before getting within three on a three-point play by Colton Mehlman with 43 seconds left. But they wouldn't score again, and Carroll put the game away at the free-throw line.

Mehlman led Badin with 14 points, while Scott Staarmann added 11.

Carroll's Jeremy Jones scored a game-high 15 points, while Nathan Chmiel and Pat Sedlar each added 14. And Nathan Wahle made it four Patriots in double figures with 10.

The Rams will try to snap their four-game losing streak Friday night at home in their regular-season finale against Purcell Marian.

"They know it all starts fresh (in the tournament), and they'll be ready to go," Argentati said. "I think they've been looking forward to the tournament ever since the draw came out, because we knew at that point we weren't going to win the league."

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