Carrico, Jones lead Aggies past Reeves

The last time Carson Carrico stepped on the court on Feb. 10, he was 0-7 from three and finished with 2 points.

But there's nothing like a little playoff redemption to calm the waters.

With his team’s playoff hopes hanging in the balance, Carrico, a sophomore, scored a career-high 32 points with seven three-pointers in the No. 14-seeded Aggies' 76-71 first-round win over No. 19 Reeves (13-17) in the Division V non-select playoffs on Friday.

After Choudrant found itself trailing 46-34 at halftime, with Reeves dictating action on the defensive end and hitting six threes in the first half, the Aggies needed a spark to lift them back in the contest. Carrico, along with 25 points from Michael Jones, proved to be enough as the Aggies outscored Reeves 42-25 in the second half, holding the visitors to three outside shots after the barrage in the early goings.

Carrico had 17 points in the first half, including 11 of the team's first 18 points, hitting five three-pointers to keep the Aggies alive - forcing the hand of Reeves' defense in the second half to start honoring him from outside, leaving Jones and Lawson Stevens inside to do damage. 

Jones answered the bell, scoring 12 of Choudrant's 20 points in the third to cut the deficit to 59-54 entering the fourth as Reeves had to put more bodies on denying Carrico the ball. The efforts weren't enough to keep him in check down the stretch, as Carrico scored 12 in the fourth, including two threes while going 4-7 from the foul line.

Tucker Batterton, who scored 10 points, hit his only three of the game late in the fourth to keep Choudrant's momentum going, while picking up a pair of steals to frustrate Reeves further.

Choudrant head coach Ryan Smith was proud his group didn't back down after being hit with an early deficit. They trusted each other and Carrico trusted his shot would go in. That's a deadly combination come playoff time.

"Reeves applied full-court pressure and were jumping and started double-teaming and we tried to go inside but it wasn't working. It ended up being Carson really took the first half in his hands for us," Smith said. "He had a great two days of practice and you could see his confidence was through the roof. When he has that mentality, he can take over. When he hit those first couple threes, you knew he was going to have a special night."

Smith also credited the comeback win to the Aggies locking in defensively after giving up nearly 50 points in the first half. 

"Our defensive identity wasn't showing in the first half, and credit them because they hit some deep threes, but we adjusted and then they started denying Carson the ball which left Mike inside and he started to score," Smith said. "We started to turn our defense into offense which helped a lot."

Choudrant (23-11) will travel to No. 3 Lacassine (34-3) in the second round on Tuesday.