Mount Carmel uses second-half surge to beat Mt. Zion in Illinois Class 3A boys basketball semifinal

Grant Best, Cameron Thomas score 14 points apiece

CHAMPAIGN, ILLINOIS – The Mount Carmel basketball team has been forced to play without standout seniors Angelo Ciaravino and Lee Marks at different times this season due to injury.

On Friday, in their Illinois Class 3A semifinal against Mt. Zion, the Caravan turned to Marks off the bench when Ciaravino got into early foul trouble. 

Playing his first game in weeks, Marks provided a spark and Mount Carmel broke open a tied game at halftime with a strong second half surge and rolled to a 65-49 victory on Friday morning at State Farm Center.

"To be honest, I wasn't sure I was going to come back," Marks said. "As the weeks kept going on and I kept feeling a little, I gave practice a shot and it felt pretty good. My teammates gave me great support coming back. I think it really boosted our morale and I think that really helped us out tonight."

Mount Carmel (32-5), which advances to face either DePaul Prep (33-2) or Peoria Richwoods (29-4) in the championship game at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, used a strong all-around effort in the second half. 

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Grant Best and Cameron Thomas each finished with 14 points, while Northwestern signee Ciaravino scored 13 and Noah Mister added 10 points and team-high six assists.

Marks finished with eight points, five assists and two steals.

Tied at halftime, the Caravan outscored Mt. Zion 20-10 in the third quarter and 15-9 in the fourth to pull away for the win.

"I think we had to do a better job in the second half of their screen-the-screener offense," Mount Carmel coach Phil Segroves said. "They did real well in the paint the first half. We had to talk to our guys about tightening up and make better reads in regards to defending certain players... The guys did a great job buying in, staying calm. ... They were also much more aggressive offensively in the second half than we were in the first half."

Mt. Zion 6-foot-7 sophomore forward JC Anderson scored 16 points on 8-of-10 shooting in 12 minutes in the first half but finished with 17 points. Lyncoln Koester added 13 points for Mt. Zion (35-2). 

Illinois Class 3A boys basketball semifinal: Mount Carmel - Mt. Zion

Photos by Nate Latsch

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- Nate Latsch | latsch@scorebooklive.com | @SBLiveIL