Boys Basketball: Second-half run boosts Seton past Mount Carmel

Updated: December 10, 2011 6:24PM

After two seasons of relative anonymity following a state championship, the buzz surrounding Seton basketball is back.

Sting fans packed Mount Carmel’s Cacciatore Athletic Center on the Southeast Side Friday night to watch No. 10 Seton defeat the Caravan 79-64.

Last season the Sting lost both games to the Catholic League South champs by a combined 50 points.

“They beat us pretty bad last year,” said second-year Seton coach Brandon Thomas, who led the Sting to a 21-8 record in his first year. “This was an important game for us to measure ourselves against.”

Leading 20-16 at halftime, the Sting (9-0, 2-0) opened the second half with a 10-0 run. Russell Robinson, a 6-foot-9 senior, scored seven of his 13 points during that stretch.

During one sequence of the run Jordan Foster created a turnover on one end of the court and passed it to a sprinting Robinson for a lay-up. He was fouled on the play and converted the foul shot to give Seton a 44-33 lead with 6:46 left in the third.

“They got their whole team back from last year,” said Caravan coach Mike Flaherty. “We knew we didn’t have a large margin for error.”

Up 50-39 midway through the third quarter, Seton further distanced themselves from the Caravan with a 13-2 run that featured contributions from seven different Sting players.

Alex Austin led Mount Carmel (2-5, 1-1) with 17 points and three steals.

Mark Weems led Seton with 16 points. J.R. Tolliver added 12 points and four rebounds.

Thomas used 14 players in the game. “We’re still not playing well,” he said. “We’re just trying to get our players better day by day.”

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