FORTVILLE — It isn’t often a team scores six points in less than a second to win a basketball game.
That’s exactly what Mt. Vernon did Tuesday night.
Down one with 10 seconds left and without the ball, it looked like the Marauders’ woes would continue. An intentional foul sent Westfield senior Zach Banks to the line. He was called for a lane violation on his first attempt of a one-and-one, giving the Marauders the ball back with a chance to win the game at the buzzer.
Peyton Meadors drove straight down court, rose up for a shot in heavy traffic, and … missed. The ball bounced around as players scrambled for the rebound, and it harmlessly fell out of bounds with 0.9 seconds left on the clock. The refs awarded the ball to Westfield, effectively ending the game.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryThat’s when things got chaotic.
Westfield’s bench erupted, earning a technical foul and sending Mt. Vernon’s Keith Rupert to the line with a chance to tie the game and potentially win it. He calmly sank both free throws, giving his team a 54-53 lead.
Still having to inbound the ball, Mt. Vernon lofted it into the air and a whistle blew. The Rocks were called for a foul, which sent their bench into a frenzy again, drawing yet another technical foul.
Ryan Morris made the first two free throws, from the original foul. Rupert made the final two.
In a matter of 0.9 seconds, Mt. Vernon turned a 53-52 deficit into a 58-53 win.
It probably wasn’t how they envisioned ending their seven-game losing streak, but they’ll take it.
“I feel really bad for them, for Westfield, for how it ended. No matter what happens, to me, I’d rather for us to have to make a play and not have that happen at the end,” Mt. Vernon coach Ben Rhoades said. “That being said, ending our losing streak was huge for us tonight. We needed some confidence.”
Mt. Vernon stayed in front for a majority of the game, maintaining a five-point lead through the half and into the fourth quarter.
When the Shamrocks got hot and started draining 3-pointers in the final frame, the lead slipped away and the Marauders found themselves trailing.
They fought back, they kept it close, and in the end, they got a win that they really needed.
“It feels good. No team wants to lose seven or eight games in a row,” Mt. Vernon junior Brandon Bell said. “We needed a win like this, especially going into sectionals next week. We needed a big win like this. I feel like this is going to send us upwards.”
“It feels amazing. We’ve been struggling lately, and today we brought the guys in, we had a team meeting before,” Meadors added. “I was like, adversity. We can either keep struggling, we’ve had some failures, or we can overcome that and play together and get some big wins this week and go into sectional feeling confident. That’s what we did tonight. It feels great.”
Bell was a spark for the Marauders all night, scoring the team’s first 10 points of the game and leading the way with 18 points and four rebounds.
“I give it all to my guys. They’re the reason I got open,” Bell said. “They knew how to get me open. The gameplan tonight really was just to attack. Coach said we could get past those guys and get to the rim.”
They did so effectively, as the Marauders made 17 two-point shots and only two 3-pointers. Twelve of Bell’s 18 points came on layups or short jumpers.
Meadors had 15 points, all near the basket. Rupert finished with 13 and Morris had eight.
“I would say that overall, as a team we shared the ball and were more aggressive,” Rhoades said. “Brandon hit some key shots, we had a couple of key drives by Peyton, Keith hit some free throws obviously. Not to go undone is the boards by Peyton, and Ryan, and Max (Burhenn), and those guys. I think today was the first time I can say after a win that I thought every single person contributed.”
The Marauders will finish the regular season Friday night against Yorktown, a conference game that they hope will send them into next week’s sectional on a strong note.
“Friday night is Senior Night. We’ve got four seniors who have given a lot to this program, both this year and before I was here,” Rhoades said. “It was good for them to feel a little momentum heading into Friday and into sectional.”
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Mt. Vernon 58, Westfield 53
Westfield;17;10;12;14;—;53
Mt. Vernon;12;20;12;14;—;58
Westfield (12-10): Braden Smith 5 0-0 14, Zach Banks 2 3-6 7, Caleb Welch 7 1-2 19, Eli Patchett 1 1-2 4, Zach Byrer 1 0-0 2, Camden Simons 0 0-0 0, Benji Welch 0 0-0 0, Chris Chin 1 5-5 7, Mason Brooks 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17 10-15 53.
Mt. Vernon (9-11): Peyton Meadors 7 1-2 15, Keith Rupert 3 6-6 13, Brandon Bell 7 3-4 18, Cade Gentry 0 2-2 2, Max Burhenn 0 0-1 0, Ryan Morris 1 6-6 8, Jacob Frank 1 0-0 2, Eric Heard 0 0-0 0. Totals: 19 18-21 58.
3-point goals: Westfield 9 (Smith 4, C. Welch 4, Patchett), Mt. Vernon 2 (Bell, Rupert).
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