Boys Basketball: Billy Kirby’s free throws spark Carmel

For Billy Kirby, a long afternoon of practice almost translated into a perfect evening.

The Carmel sophomore drained 15 of 16 free throws to help the hosts beat Lake Forest 49-33 on Saturday night. Kirby, who scored 15 points, nailed all 10 of his free-throw attempts in the fourth quarter.

All of the Corsairs were busy earlier in the day after making only 9 of 20 free throws in Friday’s 50-42 loss to Huntley.

“We came in today and shot free throws for two hours,” said Carmel center Brandon Motzel. “The sophomore stepped up and hit some huge free throws at the end.”

All of the Corsairs were busy hitting foul shots, as Carmel made 27 of 37 from the charity stripe.

As the Corsairs’ point guard, the 5-foot-11 Kirby is not asked to be a big scorer. But he figures to be an important player in crunch time.

“Being that Billy is the point guard, we know that he’ll get fouled at the end of games,” said Carmel coach Tim Bowen, whose team improved to 2-4.

Motzel delivered plenty of big plays throughout the contest, finishing with 21 points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots. The 6-7 senior buried a pair of three-point shots, and also provided a tip-in to give Carmel a 36-31 lead with three minutes left in the fourth quarter.

“I’ve been working on my inside and outside game,” Motzel said. “I try to create matchup problems. If they come out to guard me, I drive to the basket to get some foul calls.”

Lake Forest (3-3) endured a disastrous first half. The Scouts dug a 27-13 hole by making only 3-of-15 field goals with 10 turnovers.

“We just came out flat,” said Lake Forest coach Phil LaScala. “We did not do a good job of getting the ball inside.”

Thomas Durrett led the Scouts with 17 points.

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