Iowa boys basketball falls to Carroll in Semi-Finals

Lake Charles, LA (KPLC) - The Iowa Yellowjackets boys basketball team fell Tuesday night to the Carroll Bulldogs 63-57 in the Non-Select Division II.

Carroll started out the game with a ton of energy as they went up by as many as 15 points in the first half. The Bulldogs also made it extremely difficult for the Yellowjackets’ two leading scorers in Desamonte Gradney and Dashawn Ceaser to get into a good rhythm.

Before the half ended, Ceaser finally got a good look from behind the three-point line and knocked it down to make it 33-23 going into the half.

In the second half, Iowa came out with much more energy, especially on the defensive end. They started using a full-court press that put the Bulldogs in a lot of advantageous situations and began to claw their way back into the game. With 4:33 left in the third quarter, Luke Guillory picked up a big loose ball that lead to him scoring to get the game within single digits for the first time since the first half.

In the fourth quarter, Iowa got the game within five points off a spectacular behind-the-back finish by Gradney to make it 60-55 with 1:03 left to go. The Yellowjackets’ press caused some issues for the Bulldogs late, but with the help of Jaden Williams making big free throws down the stretch, Carroll would hold on to win the game.

You know, we fought back in the game, we got several stops, especially in that fourth quarter. But I would say there were probably about five or six consecutive trips where we came down after stopping them and we didn’t score the ball,” said head coach of the Yellowjackets Rob Melanson. “We just didn’t do the little things you need to do to win the game, we had to go score the ball down the stretch and just couldn’t get shots to fall”.

Carroll will take on Bossier for the Non-Select Division II state championship at 6:00 pm on Friday.

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