GREENFIELD — Jacob Cochran had enough.
Never beating county rival Mt. Vernon in his high school career, the Greenfield-Central senior made it his mission to bring the juice with the Cougars down late on Friday night.
Limited to two points in the first half, Cochran erupted for 18 in the second, finishing with a game-high 20 points to end Greenfield-Central’s drought, 44-39, that spanned back to Jan. 8, 2016.
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“Like coach has been harping all week, we haven’t beaten Mt. Vernon in five years,” Cochran said. “We came out here and we battled to the final buzzer. We fought back. We brought the juice as coach says.”
The Cougars first win over the Marauders since Jan. 9, 2015, began to unfold with 3 minutes, 5 seconds left to go, and Greenfield-Central facing a 37-33 deficit.
Down by five at halftime, 18-13, the Cougars clawed back to tie the game 30-30 late in the third quarter against their Hoosier Heritage Conference foe until an Armon Jarrard banked 3-pointer put Mt. Vernon back in front.
A Cochran and-1 with 5:41 remaining knotted up county showdown before Mt. Vernon sophomore Amhad Jarrard dished out two of his five assists to Razhaun Wells in the post.
Jarrard recently returned to the court after being sidelined for several games, and he made is presence know with two steals and five points.
Armon Jarrard led the Marauders (4-5, 0-4 HHC) with 13 points off 4 of 5 shooting from beyond the arc. His brother Amhad assisted on three of them, including a dagger with 3:51 left in the third quarter that supply Mt. Vernon with its largest lead 26-17.
Cochran and the defense countered the Jarrards as the game tightened in the fourth. Caleb Mundell found Cochran on the wing for a 3-pointer with 3:05 on the clock to cut the Marauders’ lead 37-36.
A quick steal by Mundell on the next possession setup off Amhad Jarrard led to a kick out pass to Cochran, who buried a mid-range jumper to flip the score 38-37.
“Me, personally, I was really focused. This is my last year ever playing Mt. Vernon. I hadn’t beaten them in my four years that I’ve been here, so I wanted to finish out my high school career against them with a win,” Cochran said. “As a team, we always have solid second halves. We always start out strong and we come out and compete, no matter what the score.”
Braden Mundell converted a pair of free throws with 1:56 remaining to push the lead 40-37.
“Just like this game. We were down by five, and we came out and we put our best on them. We played great defense and that got us the win,” Cochran said.
The Cougars (4-6, 2-1 HHC) shot 21 percent from the field in the first half, but they found their shots in the second at 52 percent (10 of 19) as Mt. Vernon struggled with possession.
The Marauders turned the ball over 10 times in the second half despite shooting 61 percent to open the door the Cougars. Caleb Mundell pressured the Marauders’ guards relentlessly and added seven points.
“Caleb is a catalyst for our defense, especially when we get in that 1-2-2 press and he’s up top, he’s a soccer player, so he never gets tired. He has active hands and he plays his tail off,” Greenfield-Central head coach Luke Meredith said.
Cochran had six rebounds and shot 3 of 7 from deep and 6-for-11 overall.
“He plays that hard all the time, but it’s usually when I get after him that he responds. He’s one of those guys. He’s certainly a sparkplug. When he can get in the open court and get downhill, he’s hard to stop,” Meredith said.
“We talk all the time, compete, juice and those types of things that we’ve talked a lot about. But we also talked about empty the bucket, making sure you don’t have anything left.
The Cougars tried to put the game away in the final 1:11, but their 0-for-6 shooting from the foul line kept the score at 40-39 until Caleb Mundell stole the ball for a transition layup with 20.3 remaining.
Freshman Dylan Moles iced the game with a pair of free throws as Mt. Vernon went scoreless the final 1:38.
“We haven’t beaten them since 2015, and that’s two conference wins and they got their stud back, a sophomore averaging 16 points a game, and they’re a good team. They’re going to be a tough out in the sectional,” Meredith said. “But once again, I’m just proud of the way our guys battled and never gave up.”
