The second quarter might be eight minutes the Whiteland boys basketball team would prefer to forget.
At the same time, Mt. Vernon might use it as a blueprint for how it would like to play the rest of the season after defeating the host Warriors, 62-47, on Tuesday night.
The Marauders tallied 22 points the second period to take control of a game they trailed after one quarter.
“It all came down to our defensive execution at that time because I think we shot 8 for 12 in the second quarter, and I would be willing to say five of them were layups,” Mt. Vernon coach Ben Rhoades said. “We picked up our defensive pressure a little bit and that led to a couple of easy buckets.”
Sophomore center Razhaun Wells muscled his way inside for 15 points and seven rebounds for the Marauders (5-7), while senior forward Ryan Morris added 12 points and led all rebounders with nine. Amhad Jarrard, a sophomore guard, added 10 points, while two of his teammates finished with nine.
“I think the reason we were so balanced is because we played more as a team both on offense and defense,” Rhoades said. “We did a better job tonight of sharing the ball than we have the last four or five games. When we’re unselfish, this is what we’ve looked like all year.”
Trailing 10-7 after the first stanza, Mt. Vernon started what amounted to a 14-1 scoring run with an Armon Jarrard free throw 59 seconds into the second. Reserve forward Jacob Frank then got into the act, knocking down a baseline 3-pointer and following it with one from the left wing.
Rhoades’ squad continued to pull away on Jarrard’s old-fashioned three-point sequence, a steal and two-handed slam dunk by Amhad Jarrard, reserve guard Rickie Wedlow’s three-point play and another Amhad Jarrard layup.
Leading by 13 at the half, the Marauders saw Whiteland get as close as seven points in the third quarter. Mt. Vernon responded by closing the period with a 10-2 run to basically put the game away.
Both teams got plenty of practice at the free throw stripe as Mt. Vernon went 18 of 24 and the Warriors 19 of 27. The Marauders outrebounded Whiteland, 29-26.
Sophomore forward Max Sullivan led the hosts with 14 points and eight rebounds. Junior guard Logan Willoughby added nine points for Whiteland (3-9).
“It’s more carelessness on our side,” Warriors coach Nate Cangany said of his team’s woes in the second period. “(Mt. Vernon) has some athletic guys, but we were careless with the ball. But we shot 4 for 28 in the first half. We were missing some bunnies, and for a young team you miss that many shots it gets to be a bit demoralizing.”
Whiteland is back in action on Friday when it plays at Franklin.
