FORTVILLE — The Mt. Vernon Marauders are hungry.
The defending sectional champions, fresh off a 15-win season and a second-place tie in the Hoosier Heritage Conference, want more this boys basketball season.
They are poised for bigger things, despite the loss of their coach and two top leaders.
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“I believe our whole goal, everybody, not just me, is to go even further than what we did last year,” senior Peyton Meadors said. “I believe that every single person has that mindset. We’re hungry.”
The Marauders are an experienced team, with five seniors and five juniors making up their core 10 players.
Logan Smith and Damari Gatewood have graduated after combining for over 27 points and almost 10 rebounds per game last season. Former coach Travis Daugherty resigned to focus on family.
Former Ben Davis assistant Ben Rhoades takes the reins of a defending sectional winner, and he has the benefit of a lot of returning leadership around him to ease the transition.
That would be the five seniors. Meadors is joined by Cade Gentry, Max Burhenn, Jake Morris and Keith Rupert as returning leaders for the Marauders.
“Those guys have all been on a sectional championship team,” Rhoades said. “They are people who have won at a high level, have really helped me smooth my transition when I came in. I can rely on them. I know I can say something to those guys in practice, or in school during the day, and they get it communicated. I think more than anything, that’s what helped bridge the transition to me.
“They want to win. They got a taste of it last year, and I think they want to do that again and hopefully improve from what we did.”
The five seniors combined for just shy of 30 points per game last year, giving Mt. Vernon over half of its offense back for the new campaign.
Meadors led that group with 8.7 points per game last season. Gentry was right behind, at 8.6, and Rupert averaged 7.9.
Junior Brandon Bell averaged 6.4 points per game last year, and is joined by fellow juniors Ryan Morris, Eric Heard, Jacob Frank and Evan Barr as expected contributors this season.
Team chemistry
A defining characteristic of the Mt. Vernon team is how close they are, both on and off the court.
“I’ve played with Cade Gentry and Max since I’ve been playing basketball, for years I’ve been playing with them,” Meadors said. “The other guys, I’ve been playing with them also for a long time now. We have a lot of good chemistry, and we work well together. Any one of us on any given night can be the top scorer or the low scorer. Whoever’s night it is, we try to keep giving them the ball.”
That helps as their new coach tries to figure out the right lineups, the best combinations for the team.
In their first week of practice, Rhoades tried three different configurations with the team. It’s all about seeing how they mesh, to figure out different lineups as they approach the regular season.
“The fact that they are all pretty even, they are all pretty good friends, they all get along with each other — I really believe that they don’t care who scores the points and who doesn’t,” Rhoades said. “I think if Mt. Vernon wins, that’s their goal. And that’s been one of the most impressive things to me of being around these guys. They want to win as a group, not as individuals.”
Rhoades views his five seniors as equal leaders. In his mind, he said, they all have leadership ability, and his new team has five captains on the court.
Meadors is definitely ready to step into that role.
“I’m very comfortable. I want to be the leader. I want to take on that responsibility,” he said.
More than anything, he is ready to start the season in just a few days’ time.
“I can’t even really describe it,” Meadors said. “Those first three years went by fast and now I’m a senior. It’s crazy. I’m really excited, but I hope it goes slow. I’m hungry, that’s what I am. I’m ready.”
Making tradition
The Marauders know they are going to be tested this year.
The defending sectional champions play a tough schedule, with some big-name opponents early in the year. They’ve added teams like Fishers and Avon to the slate.
They are trying to build a culture of accountability. They want to create a tradition of winning.
“More than anything, I just want to see them consistently want to improve and know that we will grow every day,” Rhoades said. “We play a tough schedule, so we’re going to be tested. There’s going to be bumps in the road. I just want to make sure that we stay the course, work on improving every day. There’s going to be bad days, there’s going to be good days. As long as we keep a positive attitude, control our effort, I’ll be happy with anything that happens.”
They aren’t the biggest team — their tallest player stands 6-foot-5 — but the Marauders should be a good shooting team, Meadors said.
Mt. Vernon can and will play at a fast pace. They work hard on the little things, like boxing out and rebounding well, despite having a smaller team.
They’ll get their share of steals. They’ll fight every night and work hard to improve.
They got their taste of a sectional title last year. They want another. They haven’t won a conference title since the senior class was freshmen. They’d like a shot at that, too.
The journey starts in just a few days, Tuesday against Whiteland at home.
“It takes the mentality of getting better every day,” Rhoades said. “We’re not going to win the sectional in November. This is a journey. From now until the state tournament starts, everything we do is to be playing our best basketball at the end of the year.”
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Coach: Ben Rhoades
Last season: 15-10, 4-3 HHC, lost to Terre Haute South Vigo in regional semifinal
Top returnees: Peyton Meadors, Cade Gentry, Keith Rupert, Max Burhenn and Jake Morris, seniors; Brandon Bell, junior
Key newcomers: Ryan Morris, Eric Heard, Jacob Frank, Evan Barr, juniors
What to expect: The Marauders are an experienced team coming off a sectional championship win, but replacing Logan Smith and Damari Gatewood is the challenge. With five seniors and five juniors making up the core of the team, though, Mt. Vernon has a lot of leadership in head coach Ben Rhoades’ first season at the helm. The Marauders should be one of the favorites in the sectional, and will be a contender in a seemingly strong HHC as well. Expect another 15-plus win season out of this team.
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