Mt. Vernon’s Armon Jarrard battles for a loose ball against Westfield on Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022. (Tom Russo/Daily Reporter)
WESTFIELD — A week after upsetting the state’s top-ranked team, the Class 4A Mt. Vernon Marauders were aiming at two straight marquee wins, but Indiana Mr. Basketball candidate Braden Smith and the 4A No. 7 Westfield Shamrocks thought otherwise.
Smith, a Purdue recruit, finished Tuesday night with a game-high 30 points, and Shamrock’s reserve Trey Buchanan went 5-for-6 from 3-point range to fend off the visiting Marauders, 87-78.
Mt. Vernon (6-2) beat former 4A No. 1 Zionsville, 44-41, on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by senior Amhad Jarrard, an IUPUI commit, at home on Dec. 28.
After the first quarter in Westfield (7-2), the Marauders tied the Shamrocks 20-all, but Mt. Vernon fell behind 16 points in the second quarter and never recovered after holding the lead momentarily in the game’s first four minutes.
“We knew this was going to be a team that was going to compete from the tip. They’re obviously a very good team. We had a lull in the second quarter where we didn’t play very well. Defensively, we gave up some open shots,” Mt. Vernon head coach Ben Rhoades said. “Our goal was to eliminate the drive and we just didn’t drop on defense, so we gave up too many buckets in the end. But, credit to them, they’re a very unselfish team.”
The Shamrocks’ ability to move the ball around the court led to Buchanan, a sophomore, to catch fire. The guard converted four consecutive 3-point attempts in the second quarter as Westfield outscored Mt. Vernon 22-8 in the frame.
Westfield was 10 of 21 from beyond the arc and ended the first half up 42-28 behind 8-for-18 shooting from deep.
“They did what they had to do. They played better than we did tonight,” Rhoades said.
Smith had 11 points in the first half and concluded the night with eight assists and 19 points in the second half.
“There’s a reason he’s one of the top Mr. Basketball candidates because he’s not just a scorer. Every year we’ve played them the past four years, they’ve beaten us a few times, and he’s always beaten us because he gets the ball to open players,” Rhoades said. “That’s why he’s going to be a great college player.”
Smith didn’t miss a shot attempt in the second half, converting five shots in the third quarter and eight overall while going 3-for-3 from the foul line in the fourth quarter. He was 5-for-5 from the free-throw line and shot 11 of 15 from the field with four rebounds.
“They were a good team. The (Jarrard) twins are awesome. They’re tough to guard,” Smith said. “I felt defensively, we struggled a little bit. They got what they wanted early and hit a bunch of threes. They’re guys hit shots when they had to, so it’s something you have to live with.”
Amhad Jarrard led the Marauders with 20 points and five rebounds, while Armon Jarrard had 19 points and six assists. Razhaun Wells added 17 points with nine in the fourth quarter as Mt. Vernon cut the deficit to eight points a handful of times in the second half.
“At halftime, we said that we just wanted to start chipping away in three-minute segments. We did a pretty good job of that, but then when it got down to eight or 10, we could never get that one stop we needed,” Rhoades said. “That’s credit to them. I thought we did a lot better job offensively, attacking the basket in the second half, but even when we didn’t have open looks at the rim, we got a lot of open shots due to our drives.”
Senior Avery Williams had 15 points off the bench. He buried 4 of 5 shots from 3-point range and Eli Bridenthal had five points. Mt. Vernon shot 60 percent from the field as a team, while the Shamrocks were 65 percent.
The difference was an 8-0 run to open the second quarter and a 9-0 run to increase Westfield’s lead to 42-26 with 1 minute, 53 seconds left in the frame.
“It was awesome, having (Buchanan) come in and knock down shots when we need it. Get the crowd going, get the momentum going and just being able to go 5-for-6 and four in a row (in the second quarter). Nothing to complain about at all,” Smith said.
After Mt. Vernon’s upset win over Zionsville, the Marauders climbed the recent 4A rankings, earning a 13th placement by the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association and votes in the latest Associated Press 4A poll.
They were hoping to keep the trend going before traveling to rival Greenfield-Central this Friday for their annual Hoosier Heritage Conference meeting. Mt. Vernon leads the HHC at 3-0 and had won six straight games before Tuesday.
Westfield won its fifth straight, including the 2021 Hall of Fame Classic in New Castle on Dec. 30. The Shamrocks beat 3A No. 10 Connersville, 51-43, and 4A No. 6 Cathedral, 74-63, in the final.
“It’s very frustrating. I feel like we could have played better. Played harder,” Armon Jarrard said. “We needed to play harder on defense and get stops.”
Westfield 87, Mt. Vernon 78
Mt. Vernon 20 8 24 26 — 78
Westfield 20 22 20 25 — 87
Mt. Vernon (6-2): Armon Jarrard 6 4-5 19, Avery Williams 5 1-1 15, Cooper Galli 1 0-0 2, George Burhenn 0 0-0 0, Amhad Jarrard 8 4-7 20, Ray Wells 7 2-3 17, Eli Bridenthal 2 0-0 5, Gavin Sullivan 0 0-0 0. Totals: 29 11-16 78.
Westfield (7-2): Alex Romack 4 4-4 12, Nic DePasquale 5 1-2 12, Trey Dorton 1 0-0 2, Cam Haffner 4 1-1 11, Braden Smith 11 6-6 30, Trey Buchanan 5 0-0 15, Kai Butterworth 1 3-4 5, Jonah Spinner 0 0-0 0. Totals: 31 15-17 87.
3-point goals: Mt. Vernon 9 (Armon Jarrard 3, Bridenthal 1, Wells 1, Williams 4) Westfield 10 (Buchanan 5, Smith 2, DePasquale 1, Haffner 2).
