Mt. Vernon’s Avery Williams drives against Shelbyville on Friday, Dec. 17, 2021. (Tom Russo/Daily Reporter)
By James Howell Jr./For Daily Reporter
FORTVILLE — Fans in attendance Friday night at Mt. Vernon High School knew they were in for a dunking spectacle with the announcement that Indiana Pacers mascot Boomer would be performing at halftime of the varsity game.
What fans did not expect when they paid their $6 admission fee is that their Mt. Vernon Marauders (3-1, 2-0) would provide a show of their own in the first quarter of an eventual 81-50 win over Hoosier Heritage Conference foe Shelbyville (1-6, 0-2).
The Jarrard twins were strong early as both Armon and Amhad led their Marauders out to an early 11-0 lead before the highlight reels really began spinning. A trio of high flying dunks – featuring a fierce windmill – by the duo nearly blew the roof off of the gym and put the game on ice quickly.
Shooting the lights out in the first quarter as a team, the Marauders led the visiting Golden Bears 35-7 by the end of the first quarter.
Marauders head coach Ben Rhoades explained how that hot start affected the rest of the game for his team.
“It is hard to play from behind, and it is hard to play from so far ahead,” Rhoades said. “When you get ahead like that, there can be moments where guys slack off and moments when guys continue playing as hard as they can. We had both of those moments tonight with our lead.”
A blistering 13-for-16 from the field in the first quarter allowed for the Marauders to greatly relax their pressure defensively and slow the tempo offensively. With the slowed tempo, Armon Jarrard was truly able to shine in the second quarter and put himself on triple-double watch in the second half.
He finished the first half with three points, four rebounds and six assists to lead the Marauders to a 47-16 advantage at the break.
The continued hot play, as Rhoades eluded to, fell off in the second half.
The Marauders, perhaps with the longer halftime due to the special appearance from Boomer, came out in the second half cold. The Golden Bears would use the opportunity to put together a 10-point run thanks to the hot shooting of junior Oliver Sandman.
With the momentum swung in favor of the Golden Bears, Rhoades decided to pull his starters off the court and let the reserve players go to work at keeping the visitors more than at arm’s length away on the scoreboard.
The reserves took the opportunity in stride and were able to push their lead back up to 29 by the end of the quarter.
The Marauder starters returned to the court briefly in the third quarter and the early portion of the fourth quarter to put the game away before the reserves returned to finish off the job.
Armon Jarrard finished the night with 13 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. He was joined as the team leader in scoring by Gavin Sullivan. Sullivan brought the entire home crowd back to their feet in the final minute of action by putting an exclamation point on the night with a dunk of his own.
“We are confident in our guys one to 10,” Rhoades said. “I know, and the other coaches know, when we need to turn to our bench guys that they will be ready. Each player works their tail off in practice, and it shows when they get their chances on the court.”
Cooper Galli (12 points), Razhaun Wells (11), Eli Bridenthal (11) each also reached double figures in the victory.
The Marauders’ win keeps them undefeated through two games of HHC play, while the Golden Bears drop to 0-2 in the conference.
Mt. Vernon plays a non-conference home game with Southport on Saturday night and then returns to HHC play on the road against the New Castle Trojans on Dec. 23.
