For the Daily Reporter
FORTVILLE — Mt. Vernon had some ups and downs in their first conference matchup of the year against Pendleton Heights, but it definitely ended on a high note.
The Marauders came back from six down with five minutes to go and tied it 33-33 after a few Peyton Meadors drives and a Ryan Morris layup. The play that took the lead was a Meadors steal off a tipped Arabian pass, followed by a Keith Rupert layup. A few timeouts and a few free throws later, the Marauders emerged victorious, 37-34.
A big part of the game was the Class 4A Marauders stalling the 4A Arabians’ shooting in the final minutes, only allowing one free throw point to be scored. Mt. Vernon head coach Ben Rhoades attributed this to team defense.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
“Our main effort was finishing the possession,” Rhoades said. “We knew they were going to shoot. We just followed them around as much as we could, we did a lot of switching around on defense and we finished the plays with block-outs.”
What had been an 11-point second quarter and an eight-point third quarter turned into a six-point fourth quarter for the Arabians.
“It’s not very many times a high school team only scores 37 points and wins,” Rhoades added.
The Marauders had been trailing by just one point at the end of the third quarter but lost a little of their momentum after the Arabians took a few risky shots that ended up falling in their favor. But that’s when the tides turned and the Marauders controlled the rest of the game.
The low point for the Marauders was their two-point second quarter. A slow and steady comeback for Pendleton Heights ended with the visitors taking their first lead of the game with two seconds to go in the first half. This was after an 11-point streak.
“In the second quarter, we were trying to play more one-on-one and we were forcing shots off the dribble that we don’t practice,” Rhoades said. “In the third quarter we did some things we’ve been practicing every day; there was nothing magical. The kids decided they were going to share the ball and get to the basket instead of standing outside and shooting.”
This was this senior’s class first victory against Pendleton Height’s in a conference game.
“That was something we talked about,” Rhoades said. “And they are always our first conference game. I told them, ‘Let’s get ourselves off on the right foot. If we’re going to have a chance to win conference, we want it to be that we’re controlling our destiny.’”
Meadors finished with the game-high of 18 points, going 6-for-6 from the free throw line. He made the final two free throws that sealed the victory.
Mt. Vernon moves to 3-1 overall and will head to Shelbyville next Friday.
“Shelbyville will be another great team and probably another great atmosphere. It’s just one more step,” Rhoades said.
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Boxscore” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Mt. Vernon 37, Pendleton Heights 34
MV;15;2;10;10;–;37
YT;8;11;9;6;–;34
Mt. Vernon (3-1, 1-0 HHC): Meadors 6 6-6 18, Bell 2 0-0 6, Gentry 2 0-0 5, Rupert 2 0-0 5, R. Morris 1 1-2, 3. Totals: 13 7-8 37.
Pendleton Heights (2-3, 0-1 HHC): Jones 5 0-0 13, Warrum 3 1-2 7, Black 2 1-2 6, Noel 3 0-0 6, Ross 1 0-0 2. Totals: 14 2-4 34.
3-pointers: MV 4 (Bell 2, Rupert 1, Gentry 1), YT 4 (Jones 3, Black 1). Rebounds: MV 17 (R. Morris 7, Meadors 4, Bell 3, Gentry 2, Heard 1), YT 14 (Ross 4, Black 3, Warrum 3, Stull 2, Noel 1, Conkling 1).
[sc:pullout-text-end]
