Carroll is 9-1 against Fort Wayne South Side since January of 2016 and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Friday. The Carroll Chargers will welcome the Fort Wayne South Side Archers at 7:30 p.m. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.
Carroll is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. Everything went their way against New Haven on Saturday as Carroll made off with a 70-46 victory. The win was nothing new for the Chargers as they're now sitting on three straight.
| 01/18/25 @ New Haven | 21 |
| 01/10/25 vs Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger | 10 |
| 12/28/24 vs East Chicago Central | 5 |
| 12/28/24 vs Hamilton Southeastern | 4 |
Carroll found their leader in sophomore Jack Van Order, who went 9 for 10 on his way to 21 points. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Van Order has scored all season. Paxton Crane was another key player, going 6 of 7 en route to 13 points and eight boards.
Carroll was working as a unit and finished the game with 19 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, Fort Wayne South Side didn't have too much trouble with Fort Wayne Concordia Lutheran on Friday as they won 73-58. Given the Archers' advantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 62nd, while the Cadets are ranked 299th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Fort Wayne South Side's win came from a few key players Carroll will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Demarcus Barr, who went 9 for 16 on his way to 23 points. He is trending in the right direction considering he's improved his point production for three straight games. The team also got some help courtesy of Jayvon Irby, who went 7 of 10 en route to 16 points.
Fort Wayne South Side is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 10-3 record this season. As for Carroll, their victory bumped their record up to 6-8.
Friday's game will pit two of the most dominant forwards against one another: Crane and Zacariah Belcher. Crane has been dynamite this season: he has averaged 16.1 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 1.4 assists. For his part, Belcher has averaged 14.3 points, 3.5 blocks, and 8.6 boards.
Carroll beat Fort Wayne South Side 74-62 when the teams last played back in January of 2024. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Irby, who went 7 for 12 on his way to 19 points and five rebounds. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Carroll still be able to contain Irby? There's only one way to find out.
