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EHT: Carmi quiets Harrisburg

Heading into this year, Harrisburg had made seven straight championship game appearances at the Eldorado Holiday Tournament. With a 45-32 quarterfinal loss to No. 5 seed Carmi-White County Tuesday afternoon, the Bulldogs won't be making it eight in a row.

Fourth-seed Harrisburg fell behind early, going over five minutes before converting on its first field goal of the game, and trailed 7-2 after the first quarter.

The Bulldogs (4-5) trailed 31-27 entering the fourth quarter and took their only lead on a basket from Jordan Bartok at 32-31 with 5:03 to play. From that point, Harrisburg wouldn't score again.

"It was a slow start for both teams, but probably slower for us," said Harrisburg coach Randy Smithpeters. "Opportunity knocked when we finally got back in it and took the lead, and then didn't score again, and that's our fault. When we have the lead and the ball, we have to make the right decisions, and we didn't."

No HHS player scored in double figures. Isaiah Saulsberry had nine points for Harrisburg who has now dropped three of its last four overall.

"We thought we had a great opportunity today," said Smithpeters. "We didn't do the things we had to do to beat a Carmi. I think we as a team probably have to go back and look at ourselves inside and make some adjustments to be better and win games like this."

Senior Matt Rice scored 19 points for Carmi (9-1).

Carmi will be appearing in the semifinals of the EHT for the first time since 2003. The Bulldogs last won the tournament in 1998.

Harrisburg had made the semifinals in nine of the previous 10 EHT's before this season.

Harrisburg 02 11 14 05 -32

Carmi 07 11 14 14 -45

Harrisburg (32): Saulsberry 3 3-3 9, Smith 2 0-0 6, Ferrell 3 0-0 7, Gould 0 0-4 0, Bartok 2 0-0 2, Burtis 1 0-0 2, Lambert 2 0-0 4. Totals 13 3-7 32.

Carmi (45): Rice 4 9-13 19, Simon 4 1-1 9, Northcott 1 3-4 6, Black 1 3-4 5, Lamp 2 0-0 4, Yates 1 0-2 2. Totals 13 16-24 45.

3-pointers: Harrisburg 3 (Smith 2, Ferrell), Carmi 3 (Rice 2, Northcott). Team fouls: Harrisburg 19, Carmi 12. Records: Harrisburg is 4-5, Carmi is 9-1.