“I think it really helps our tournament resume,” said Ridinger, with the tournament draw just a week away. “We just battled. That’s been one of the things we’ve been preaching since the beginning of 2017. Play tough. Be physical. Be the aggressor. And we’ve been able to do that night in and night out for the most part.
“We knew Badin was going to be well coached and physical, so we had to match it. I felt like we did.”
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Justin Flor scored 21 points and Adam Goodpaster had 15 for Carlisle, which has won eight of its last nine games to improve to 13-5.
The Indians trailed 13-12 early in the second quarter, but finished the period with a 14-1 surge to take control of the game.
“We started running the plays and figuring them out and getting baskets … and just playing how we know how to,” said Flor, a 6-foot-7 junior forward. “They’re a good team. It’s just a good thing to beat ’em.”
Flor described the contest like this: “More physical than normal, but it was fun. It was very, very nerve-wracking getting there. We just stuck through it and played hard.”
For Badin coach Gerry Weisgerber, falling behind was an all-too-familiar occurrence for his team. The Rams (8-10) nearly doubled Carlisle on the boards, but shot 25.9 percent from the field and suffered their third straight defeat.
“We just dig ourselves holes that we can’t get out of, and a lot of that has to do with our shooting,” Weisgerber said. “We were 11-for-51 from the floor last night (against Alter) and 15-for-58 from the floor tonight. That’s not good. On top of that, we turned it over 14 times and they scored 19 points off those turnovers. We can’t do that against good teams, and Carlisle is a very good team.”
Asked if he was happy with Badin’s effort, Weisgerber replied, “At times, yes. But we don’t play 32 minutes. Turnovers have been our bugaboo, that and offensive rebounds. We’re getting better at getting the rebounds, but the turnovers are really hurting us.”
John Marot led the Rams with 16 points and seven rebounds. Daunte DeCello had nine points, while Justin Pappas hauled in 11 boards.
Active CHS defense played a key role in limiting Badin to 15 points in the middle two quarters. The Rams were behind by as many as 16 (35-19, 37-21, 48-32, 50-34) in the second half. Every time the visitors tried to make a surge, Carlisle had an answer.
“It really came down to being physically and mentally tough,” Ridinger said. “We need to make sure we bring that intensity and effort and passion every night.”
Jake Moore scored seven points for the Indians, who were 15 of 24 from the foul line (Badin was 13 of 19). Logan Baker contributed five points and six boards.
Carlisle will continue its quest for the Southwestern Buckeye League Buckeye Division championship Tuesday night at Dixie. The Indians are 8-1 in Buckeye play with three league games remaining — Preble Shawnee is 9-1.
The Rams have a difficult GCLC week ahead, traveling to McNicholas on Tuesday and Roger Bacon on Friday.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Weisgerber said. “I told the kids the old cliche: You’ve got two paths to go down right now. You can go down the path of trying to work to get things turned around, or the other path is to get out of the season. We’ll find out what our mettle is come Tuesday night at McNick.”
Badin 9-5-10-20—44
Carlisle 10-16-11-16—53
BADIN (8-10): Jakob Tipton 1 0 2, Caleb Meyer 1 1 4, Seth Thompson 0 3 3, Daunte DeCello 3 3 9, Kyle Young 2 1 5, Justin Pappas 2 1 5, John Marot 6 4 16. Totals: 15-13-44
CARLISLE (13-5): Jake Moore 3 1 7, Justin Flor 7 5 21, Seth Butler 1 0 3, Adam Goodpaster 5 4 15, Logan Baker 0 5 5, Steve Summer 1 0 2. Totals: 17-15-53
3-pointers: B 1 (Meyer), C 4 (Flor 2, Butler, Goodpaster)
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