HANCOCK COUNTY — The polar vortex might have cooled the start to the Mt. Vernon Marauders’ week, but it’s done nothing to deter their late-season focus.
At a flawless 5-0 in the Hoosier Heritage Conference and winners in five of their last six games, the Marauders (13-4) are seeking a championship heading into the final stretch run of the 2020-21 regular season.
And, they control the outcome.
Inclement weather postponed their home game scheduled for Tuesday night against Beech Grove, but the Marauders are already moving on, eyeing Friday night’s showdown at rival New Palestine with the HHC title race heating up.
“I think we’ll be good for Friday. We’re 15 minutes down the road. If it takes 30 minutes to get there, that’s fine with me. That means we get to play,” Mt. Vernon head coach Ben Rhoades said.
“For us, we’ve really concentrated on taking it one game at a time and trying to control what we can control. Right now, we are the team that doesn’t have any losses, and if we take care of business, then we’re in good position.”
The wins hold more meaning with two weeks left before the postseason begins.
Currently, Mt. Vernon leads the HHC race, but rival Delta (5-1) isn’t far behind with one HHC game remaining at Shelbyville on Friday. Defending HHC champion New Palestine (12-7, 4-2 HHC) wraps up its league schedule against the Marauders.
“Just wish we had a little bit more control over our own destiny,” New Palestine head coach Trent Whitaker said. “We need some help.”
The Marauders can lock down their first outright HHC title since 2010 by winning out against both New Palestine on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and to end the regular season on Friday, Feb. 26 at home against Yorktown.
Mt. Vernon’s last HHC title came in 2016 when they shared the championship with New Castle. New Palestine won the league outright last season at 5-2 with Delta, New Castle and Pendleton Heights tying for second at 4-3.
The championship marked New Palestine’s first HHC crown since 2013 when it also won outright, but against Mt. Vernon, nothing is ever guaranteed.
“Obviously, New Pal is going to be a great test for us. They’ve knocked us out of the sectional the last two years, and they’ve had some really good wins this year. (The sectional loss) is something that, I think, a lot of our returning players remember,” Rhoades said.
“Right now, New Pal has had the good success the past couple of years in the tournament and in the conference, so we’re really trying to get to where they are conference wise. I want us to have a tradition of excellence both in the conference and in the tournament and overall. I think we’ve set ourselves up some for that and still striving to get there. We have the opportunity this year to win the conference, if we take care of the last two games.”
Historically, the Marauders are one of the New Palestine Dragons’ oldest rivals. When the two programs meet on Friday it will signify their 86th meeting since 1963-64.
New Palestine has won three of the last four contests against Mt. Vernon, including during the 2019-20 sectional semifinals when the Dragons prevailed, 59-40.
Mt. Vernon claimed last year’s regular-season meeting at home, 79-65, to end New Palestine’s two-game winning streak in the series. Overall, Mt. Vernon leads the series 52-33 and are 19-11 at New Palestine and 45-25 in regular-season meetings with the Dragons.
“Mt. Vernon is a really good basketball team. They have some really talented players, and we have to try to slow down the Jarrard brothers. Definitely, easier said than done,” Whitaker said. “But, they’re really talented and have kids that complement each other really well. All of them.”
The Marauders are coming in hot with consecutive victories over Mooresville, 80-70, and Brebeuf Jesuit, 61-57, to cap a four-game road trip that started at Delta on Jan. 30 with a 52-46 win in overtime.
Junior Amhad Jarrard leads the Marauders with 12.7 points per game, followed by his brother, Armon Jarrard, at 12.6 ppg. Junior center Razhaun Wells has been a force in the paint, averaging 10.9 ppg and sophomore Eli Bridenthal is contributing 8.4 ppg. Junior Cooper Galli is a scoring threat at 7.9 ppg.
“I think both teams have players that are really resilient and that are competitive. They work hard and we work hard also. We’ve had a couple of deficits we’ve come back from, and so have they. I think both of our teams are very similar in that fact,” Rhoades said.
“I know they graduated a lot of people from last year, but with both (Blaine) Nunnally and (Steele) Brasfield, they have some good returners that have played a lot of tight minutes just like we have, so Friday is going to be a really good test. Let’s see how it goes.”
The Dragons, much like the Marauders, who stormed back from a double-digit deficit recently against Mooresville, are proven comeback artists on the court.
New Palestine rallied back from 15 down to beat New Castle on Dec. 18, 82-75, in overtime. On Feb. 6, Brasfield and Nunnally powered another comeback effort against Perry Meridian, 64-58, in overtime.
This past Friday, Nunnally buried the eventual game-winner against Shelbyville with five seconds on the clock to keep the Dragons in the HHC race and secure their second straight win, 62-61.
Nunnally is averging 16.8 ppg and Brasfield is producing 16.7 ppg with senior Matthew Brown at 7.7 ppg.
“We seem to play really well against them at home, and it could possibly be a preview of a sectional game as well,” Whitaker said. “Against, Delta, unfortunately, we dropped a one-point loss at their place earlier in the year (52-51, on Jan. 8), and that’s where we got one of our two losses. Shelbyville could possibly knock them off and help us out a little bit.”
Mt. Vernon is fixated on the next game, and it has significance with the IHSAA state tournament draw this Sunday and the Sectional 9 tournament opening the first week of March.
Four HHC teams are part of Sectional 9, including two-time defending champion New Palestine. Mt. Vernon, Greenfield-Central and Pendleton Heights are part of the seven-team tournament field.
“Ultimately, that’s what you’re remembered for in Indiana. The run you make in March, and that’s what we’re trying, every day, to work towards. There are bumps along the way as you go, but at the same time, I feel like this year we’ve overcome some of those, and I’m happy with where we’ve been,” Rhoades said.
“We haven’t achieved what we want to yet, but we’ve put ourselves in the right direction and right now we’ve put ourselves in position to control some of the things we’ve talked about as a team.”
