INDIANAPOLIS —The calendar hasn’t flipped yet, but the Mt. Vernon Marauders made sure the old year ended on their terms.
Competing in their final game of 2019 on Friday night during the North Central Holiday Shootout, the Class 4A Marauders charged back from a five-point deficit and hung on late to beat 2A No. 12 Park Tudor 48-44.
Sophomore guard Armon Jarrard led the comeback with a game-high 23 points on 7-of-12 shooting to help the Marauders (4-3) win their second contest in four tries.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
“We just had to stay calm and play as a team,” Jarrard said. “It’s the end of the year. The last game of 2019. This is going to keep us going good into 2020.”
The opening quarter mimicked the past slightly with Park Tudor (3-3) jumping out 7-3 and 14-10 before the Marauders marched ahead behind a 10-1 run in the second quarter.
Mt. Vernon opened the year 2-1, losing to Fishers 60-58 and later lost 2-of-3 with a narrow 33-31 win over Southport last Saturday.
The Marauders strung together their first winning streak this season with efficiency in the first half, shooting 62 percent (10-of-16) from the field.
A Rickie Wedlow layup with 4 minutes, 31 seconds remaining in the first half tied the game 15-15. Jarrard scored the next five points to put Mt. Vernon in front 20-15 with 2:41 left.
Mt. Vernon’s lead grew to eight points by the fourth quarter despite the team’s shooting percentage dropping to 25 percent in the third (3-of-12).
“Our kids played hard. I thought defensively, we executed the way we wanted to, we tried to limit their possessions,” Mt. Vernon head coach Ben Rhoades said. “I thought offensively, we did a really good job of having longer possessions when we needed them to keep the ball out of their hands and didn’t commit silly turnovers in the second half like we did a little bit in the first half.”
The Panthers turned to their perimeter shooting to stay close. Park Tudor buried seven 3-pointers in the game with Malachi Archey converting 5-of-10 and finishing with a team-high 17 points.
A trey by Ronald Johnson, who had 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting, brought the Panthers within a possession 34-31 with 6:13 remaining in the game.
Archey was 6-for-12 from the field and scored five of Park Tudor’s 18 points in the fourth quarter. Johnson contributed nine points.
“At halftime, we felt if we limited their possessions, and we didn’t give them any second-chance shots, we’d win the game,” Rhoades said. “We didn’t hit some free throws at the end, that normally, I think we would have, but we persevered. We had some grit, some toughness there.”
The Marauders controlled the glass and out-rebounded the Panthers 27-16 with 19 defensive boards. Cooper Galli had seven rebounds and six points. Ryan Morris finished with five points and six rebounds. Razhaun Wells hauled in seven rebounds.
An 8-2 run provided a 42-33 cushion with 2:45 left on the clock, but Park Tudor’s interior attack cut the deficit to one, two and three points in the final minute.
“I was a little disappointed that they got to the lane in the fourth quarter a couple of times right past us, but at the end of the day, going into the end of 2019, the week of Christmas, we can’t be upset about this,” Rhoades said.
Galli and Morris combined to go 5-for-6 from the free-throw line to secure the win in the last 31.8 seconds. Mt. Vernon shot 14-of-21 from the line and were 4-of-8 from 3-point range.
“Ahmad (Jarrard) is out right now with a hurt finger, so we’ve had a lot of people step up the past couple of games against some very quality opponents,” Rhoades said. “Yes, Armon played really well tonight, but Rickie Wedlow played well tonight. I thought Cooper Galli and Drew Walker played well. Ryan Morris is our steady Eddy kind of guy. We’ve had people step up.”
The Marauders lost to Hoosier Heritage Conference foe Pendleton Heights 59-45 on Dec. 13 and 63-57 to HHC rival Shelbyville on Dec. 20. They return to league play on Jan. 3 at New Castle before facing another non-conference test against Westfield on the road on Jan. 7.
“We wanted our schedule to be a little tougher this year to be honest. We dropped a couple that we probably shouldn’t have but we’ve won a couple of games other people didn’t think we would win,” Rhoades said. “Our players think we’re going to win, but I don’t think everyone else is, especially because we had a couple of hiccups earlier in the season.”
