ARCADIA — The Mt. Vernon boys basketball team wants to come at you in waves. And they did that to perfection Saturday night against an athletic Hamilton Heights team in a 77-73 victory that moved the Marauders’ record to 2-0 on the season.
“One of the strengths of our team is our depth,” Marauders head coach Travis Daugherty said after the game in which he played 10 players. “We like playing that number of guys because it gives us stamina at the end of games to weather some runs, which we had to do tonight.”
The Marauders took control of the game in the second and third quarters, giving them a 12-point lead heading into the fourth quarter. In the first half, Damari Gatewood paced the Marauders, scoring 11 of his 17 total points.
In the first half, Hamilton Heights center Caleb Bean kept the Huskies within striking distance. Bean finished with 20 points and six rebounds.
“Both teams wanted to come out and play fast,” Daugherty said. “Playing that speed helped us out later in the game with our guys being fresh and able to play full speed when they are on the court.”
Playing so many players, bench players will be relied upon to provide scoring, and the Marauders got a big performance from Brandon Bell, who knocked down three 3-point shots to fuel his 15-point performance.
The Huskies went on a 12-2 run at the start of the fourth quarter to pull within two points. But Logan Smith single-handedly stopped the run with back-to-back buckets that effectively ended the Huskies’ comeback attempt. Smith finished with 12 points and five rebounds with numerous assists as well.
The Marauders look to continue their undefeated start as they take the court Friday at Covenant Christian in Indianapolis for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.
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Mt. Vernon 77, Hamilton Heights 73
MV;18;22;23;14;—;77
HH;17;15;19;22;—;73
MT. VERNON (2-0): Gatewood 6 3-4 17, Bell 6 0-0 15, Smith 6 0-0 12, Meadors 4 0-0 9, Rupert 2 4-4 9, Gentry 2 3-4 8, Bostic 1 0-1 3, Morris 1 0-0 3, Burhenn 0 1-2 1. Totals: 28 11-15 77.
HAMILTON HEIGHTS (0-2): Cross 7 7-10 22, Bean 9 2-2 20, LePoidevin 2 3-4 8, Hochstedler 2 2-2 7, Wahl 3 0-0 7, Knott 2 0-0 5, Beale 2 0-0 4. Totals: 27 14-18 73.
3-pointers: MV 10 (Bell 3, Gatewood 2, Bostic, Gentry, Meadors, Morris, Rubert), HH 6 (Wahl 2, Cross, Hochstedler, Knott, LePoidevin). Rebounds: MV 17 (Smith 5, Rupert 4, Meadors 3, Gentry 2, Bostic, Burhenn, Gatewood 1), HH 22 (Bean 6, Cross, Hochstedler 4, Beale 3, LePoidevin, Wiltermood 2, Knott 1).
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