Union spoils Catholic Central’s Senior night in Dominating fashion.

One of the more interesting times of the High School basketball season comes after league play has ended and we are faced with some nice match-ups. We see the same thing at the beginning of the season to an extent, but here at the end we know who teams are a little better than early on. Tonight we saw one of these great out of conference games between Grand Rapids Union and host Grand Rapids Catholic Central. Union has been at the top of our weekly rankings ever since they took down GR Christian while Catholic has been creeping up those same rankings all season long.

Carnegie dominated inside all night.

Union’s Ladon Carnegie and Catholic’s Conor Hogan are two of the best players in the area although they have totally opposite games. Carnegie is long and athletic and dominates down low while having a strong ability to step out and knock down a deep jumper. Hogan is a pure shooter who has an unbelievable ability to get to the rim while drawing contact. The two athletes were on display tonight and we had a front row seat for this rare head-to-head battle.

Carnegie and his Red Hawks took off early jumping out to a 19-12 1^st quarter lead behind the penetration of point guard Xavier Watson. Watson flipped in 4 early points and assisted on easy baskets to get his guys going early. Catholic struggled to get open shots and when they did the Cougars were cold. An inability to knock down shots combined with too many turnovers leading to Union transition baskets put CC down by 15 at the half following a 13-5 2^nd quarter advantage for the Red Hawks. Hogan was the lone bright spot for the Cougars in the first half scoring 10 of Catholic’s 17 first half points.

Carnegie’s defense was on display as he recorded 5 first half blocks to go along with his 7 points and 5 boards. Byron Jones scooped up a load of offensive rebounds and chipped in 8 first half points for Union. Catholic came out in the second half a bit shell shocked but found a way to rip off an 11-1 run to cute the Union lead to 40-30 as we entered the 4^th quarter. John Haley came up big in the 3^rd with 6 points and 5 boards and seemed to be attempting to will his team back into the game.

Union was too much in the end however as they only allowed CC to cut the lead to 9 before pulling away yet again with an 8 point run to seal the deal at Catholic. Jones finished with 12 points while Carnegie put up a gaudy line of 20 points, 13 boards, and 7 blocks. A game that exposed CC’s lack of a big man to defend against a skilled center and also cemented Carnegie’s spot as one of the best players in the area. Hogan finished with 15 for the Cougars who didn’t close out senior night they way they had hoped and now head into Districts with something to prove.