NEW CASTLE — The play wasn’t exactly drawn up for New Castle’s Trey Miller. In fact, the Trojans’ final possession on Friday night was essentially up to point guard William Grieser’s discretion.
The junior opted to go with the Trojans’ hot hand, and sophomore Trey Miller didn’t miss.
With the game tied at 38 and 14.4 seconds remaining, Grieser drove and kicked the ball out on the perimeter to Miller, who buried his fifth 3-pointer in the game to defeat Mt. Vernon 41-38.
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The loss was a triple-blow to the Marauders (4-4), who dropped to 0-3 in the Hoosier Heritage Conference and watched their two-game winning streak come to an end.
The worst part, Mt. Vernon head coach Ben Rhoades emphasized after the loss, was it didn’t come as a surprise.
“We said all week, he was the one guy we felt that was their best shooter, and we couldn’t give him open looks,” Rhoades said. “He hit three 3s in the third quarter and five in the game. To me, that’s disappointing because I felt that wasn’t something we were focused enough on as an overall group.”
To the Marauders’ credit, the defense shut down Miller and the Trojans through the first half, limiting New Castle to 10 points on 19 percent shooting (4 of 21), but the second half was a different story.
New Castle turned a 19-10 deficit into a 27-23 lead behind a 14-3 run. The Trojans sank five consecutive 3-pointers and chipped away at the Marauders’ lead until they pulled ahead 30-25 prior to the fourth quarter.
“I’m more disappointed in the game today because we had played better defensively the last two games,” Rhoades said. “We had a really good first half. We held them to 10 points. At halftime, we knew they were going to score more than 10 points, but at the same time we have to be disciplined enough to make sure we have our hands up on guys that we know can shoot.”
Miller hit shots despite the attention, finishing with a team-high 17 points on 5 of 10 shooting — all 3-pointers and two free throws.
The Trojans were 2 of 10 from long range in the first half but flipped the switch in the second half by going 7-for-14 and 7 of 16 from the field. Only two of New Castle’s field goals throughout the game were within the arc.
“We didn’t keep the ball in front of us, and their best shooter caught a wide-open shot with nobody around him,” Rhoades said. “That was kind of what we said was going to happen. If that’s what we’re going to let happen, that’s what’s going to happen.”
Miller’s fourth 3-pointer with 2:35 left in the third quarter tied the game at 25 and a buzzer-beating trey by Collin Blessinger put the Trojans ahead by five points after the third quarter.
“They were really physical, and they did a really good job defensively in the first half,” New Castle head coach Daniel Cox said. “We felt like we were getting some good looks, but their physical presence disrupted us. But in the second half, we had the mindset that we were going to be more aggressive.”
Miller gave New Castle (6-3, 2-1 HHC) its largest lead 33-27 in the fourth quarter with a pair of free throws. The Trojans shot 10 of 12 from the foul line — all in the second half.
“(Miller is) a young kid, kind of bright-eyed, lives in the moment. He’s just young enough that moments aren’t too big for him yet,” Cox said. “We have a lot of confidence in him to make good shots, and he stepped up tonight.”
Armon Jarrard scored a game-high 18 points with six rebounds for Mt. Vernon and tied the game at 38 with two clutch free throws with 37.2 seconds left.
Mt. Vernon brought the game within two points three times prior, but its free-throw woes prevented the Marauders from surging ahead. The Marauders were 5 of 11 from the line in the fourth quarter before Jarrard came through.
“Our free-throw shooting has been going downhill and to me that’s a mental thing. You can work on that, and we work on it every day, but you can’t go 7-for-13 in the fourth quarter in a close game for free throws and expect to win,” Rhoades said. “It wasn’t just one person that missed them. It was a little bit of everybody. It’s a team game.”
Razhaun Wells had eight points for the Marauders, while Ryan Morris hauled in eight rebounds with five points.
Mt. Vernon shot 12 of 19 from the foul line and were 2 of 14 from 3-point range.
Miller was 5 of 8 from deep on his own. Blessinger was 2 of 3 and Grieser went 1-for-2 with Cole McDaniel adding the final 3-pointer.
“It’s kind of who we are. We’re not really a back-to-the-basket team. We don’t have those pieces. We make shots and that’s something we have to do to be successful,” Cox said. “But I think we have a team that has some depth to us, and any given night guys can step up and score for us. Tonight, it was Trey’s night.”
The Marauders travel to Westfield on Tuesday night before returning to HHC action at Greenfield-Central on Friday.
