Mt. Vernon head coach Ben Rhoades reacts in the second half during their game against Greenfield-Central on Friday, Jan. 7, 2022. (Tom Russo/Daily Reporter)
GREENFIELD — When two Hancock County and Hoosier Heritage Conference rivals meet, it’s never just another game.
To win it, it had to be treated as though it was.
“It’s just another free throw,” Mt. Vernon senior guard Armon Jarrard said in the same cool, calm and collected manor he used to drill the game-winning free throw in front of a large and loud visiting crowd at Greenfield-Central’s Dellen Automotive Gymnasium Friday.
Mt. Vernon improved to 7-2 overall and 4-0 in the HHC with a 60-59 overtime victory over Greenfield-Central. The Cougars dropped to 4-6 and 1-2 in the conference.
Down 59-58, Jarrard was fouled while taking a baseline jumper with 1.5 seconds to go in overtime. He hit the first one to tie it and, after a timeout, knocked down the latter to give his team the win.
“I wanted to keep my head straight and knock them down,” Jarrard added. “This was pretty big. It keeps us undefeated in the conference. This will prepare us for the sectional if we see them again.”
Greenfield junior standout Dylan Moles had forced overtime by connecting on a jumper with 34 seconds left in regulation. It tied the game, 53-53. Mt. Vernon had a chance to win it but, Armon’s twin brother, Amhad Jarrard’s last-second shot didn’t go down.
In overtime, Moles put the Cougars up with a driving layup with 1:02 left in OT. It gave G-C a 57-55 lead.
With his team trailing 58-56, Mt. Vernon senior post player Ray Wells scored with 12 seconds to go to tie it again. Greenfield-Central frosh Braylon Mullins hit one of two free throws to give the Cougars the lead with seven seconds, 59-58.
Mt. Vernon had to battle back from a second half deficit, just as Greenfield-Central did in the first 16 minutes.
The Marauders scored off a Amhad Jarrard put-back dunk for the game’s first two points. They led 11-5 before the Cougars starting getting closer.
Tied 18-18 in the second, Moles scored his team’s final 10 points, all in the last 2:23. It gave Greenfield-Central a 28-21 halftime lead.
Armon Jarrard was the sharp-shooter that got MV back in it.
The Marauders trailed by as much as nine in the third quarter. Moles hit one of his five 3-pointers to give G-C a 34-25 lead with 5:24 to go in the third.
After a timeout, Wells hit a couple of buckets and Amhad Jarrard had another dunk. Armon Jarrard closed out the quarter with a couple of 3-pointers.
Armon finished with 16 points, all in the second half. He had eight in the third quarter and a pair of 3s in the fourth. His 3-pointer with 23 seconds left in the third quarter tied the game, 41-41. He followed it up with another trey to start the fourth.
He and Moles traded 3-pointers to start the final regulation period that saw the Marauders lead by four, 53-49, with 1:30 left.
Joey Roland and Moles answered with the next two buckets to force the extra session.
Moles finished with 33 points. He had a stretch where he hit seven straight shots, five were 3-pointers.
“There were times we left him open that let him get going,” Mt. Vernon coach Ben Rhoades. “Once he was going, he hit a couple of step-back 30-foot jump shots. You can’t guard those. Those were some of the elite shots we’ve seen all year. Everyone knows he’s their top scorer and for him to still do that was a little bit of a letdown on our part, but it also says a lot for him as a kid.”
Moles finished 10 of 16 from the field and was 8 of 8 at the free-throw line.
“Dylan Moles is our captain. Dylan Moles is our best player,” Greenfield-Central coach Luke Meredith said. “Any college coach right now needs to get that film and offer him a scholarship immediately. We’re talking about going up against elite athletes and Division I players (both Jarrards have signed with IUPUI). They switched four or five different guys on him.”
Rhoades was happy his team could pull out such a close game, but would like to see a little more consistency out of his club.
“There were too many peaks and valleys,” Rhoades said. “By the time we get to the end of the year we’re going to need to play a lot more steady. We made the plays we had to. I told them I was proud of how they played. We could have given up down seven or eight at halftime. I could see in the locker room at halftime they were not going to give up.”
Meredith couldn’t have been more proud of his club either.
His Cougars lost 62-37 in the sectional semifinals to the Marauders last season.
“I’m 1,000 percent incredibly proud of our guys,” Meredith said. “We’ve lost three in a row and we heard all week how Mt. Vernon was going to stomp us like they did in the sectional semifinals last year at Richmond.
“We come out and do what we do. We battle. We play hard. We play with juice. Those can’t just be slogans on a t-shirt it has to be who we are. That is the standard. I’m proud of the way we competed. I thought we played well enough to win. I wasn’t a huge fan of the call at the end of the game, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.”
Wells led three Marauder double-figure scorers with 23. Amhad Jarrard had 10 before fouling out. Roland had 12 for the Cougars.
Mt. Vernon 60, Greenfield-Central 59, OT
Mt. Vernon;15;6;20;12;7;—;60
Greenfield-Central;14;14;13;12;6;—;59
Mt. Vernon (7-2, 4-0 HHC): Cooper Galli 3 0-0 7, Amhad Jarrard 5 0-0 10, Ray Wells 10 2-3 23, Avery Williams 0 1-2 1, Armon Jarrard 5 2-2 16, Eli Bridenthal 1 1-2 3, George Burhenn 0 0-0 0, Gavin Sullivan 0 0-0 0, Darren Smith 0 0-0 0. Totals: 24 6-9 60.
Greenfield-Central (4-6, 1-2 HHC): Dylan Moles 10 8-8 33, Tyler Kerkhof 1 0-2 3, Joey Roland 3 6-7 12, Braylon Mullins 1 2-4 4, Rune Carpenter-Jones 2 0-1 4, Adam Lester 0 0-0 0, Rashawn Street 1 1-1 3, Owen Anderson 0 0-0 0. Totals: 18 17-23 59.
3-point goals: Mt. Vernon 6 (Ar. Jarrard 4, Wells, Galli); Greenfield-Central 6 (Moles 5, Kerkhof)
