Luke Ertel
Mike Brown | For The Daily Reporter
FORTVILLE — Nearing the end of the 2022 portion of his team’s schedule, Mt. Vernon head boys basketball coach Ben Rhoades is seeing the growth of his young team.
Eight games in and — except for senior Eli Bridenthal — the first eight games of most players’ varsity careers, the Marauders are 5-3.
What impressed Rhoades in Thursday afternoon’s Hoosier Heritage Conference matchup against New Castle — which had its tip-off time moved up in hopes to beat imminent bad weather — was how, in not one of the club’s better overall games, they were able to get a victory.
The Marauders took the lead for good in the second quarter and hung on after a couple of New Castle runs to earn a 58-48 victory.
Along with 5-3 overall, the Marauders are 3-0 in the HHC. New Castle dropped to 4-4 and 1-2.
The Marauders have a one-half game lead in the conference standings ahead of New Palestine, 2-0 in league games.
“We didn’t have some of the better individual performances that we’ve had, but the goal is to get a team win,” Rhoades said. “We made some plays when we had to.
“I thought we weren’t as focused on defense at the beginning of the game and didn’t take care of the ball, but we got done what we wanted to do. We played a tough New Castle team that has some good players, well-coached. We hit free throws down the stretch and that really helped us.”
Freshman Luke Ertel did have a good performance. The guard more than doubled his scoring average (10.3 points per game) with a game-high 23. He hit 11 of 11 at the free-throw line, including 6 of 6 in the fourth period.
After scoring double figures in his first four high school games, Ertel hit the mark for the first time since a Dec. 3 loss at Fishers. It also marked his season-high for points. He had a previous high of 14 in a win over Covenant Christian on Nov. 26.
“He gave us a solid performance,” Rhoades said. “With all these guys, there are going to be ups and downs throughout the season and throughout game-to-game. That was the good thing. Even though (freshman leading Julien Smith) didn’t have as good a game as he has had, Luke had 11 of 11 at the line. Tanner Teschendorf and Brady Fitzgerald both hit really big shots. Adam Hackett had nine points. He hit a 3 and had three really good drives.”
In the first half, there were five lead changes. Mt. Vernon’s biggest lead was eight. With 44 seconds left until the break, Teschendorf hit his second 3-pointer of the half to give the Marauders a 29-21 advantage. Right at the halftime buzzer, New Castle’s Clay Butler hit a 3. The Trojans ended both first-half quarters with buzzer-beating 3s.
New Castle’s biggest first-half lead was three. It came on the game’s opening points, a trey from Colin Taylor. Both teams came out frigid from the field. Combined, the teams missed their first seven shots. Taylor’s opening points came with 5:49 remaining in the first quarter.
The Trojans last lead was at 18-17. It was followed by a 7-0 Mt. Vernon run. Hackett, a 6-foot-6 senior, gave the Marauders the lead on a dunk. Fitzgerald followed with a 3 and Ertel hit a pair of free throws.
Mt. Vernon’s biggest lead of the game was 13, 42-29, coming on a Bridenthal trey with 3:47 left in the third. New Castle battled back to cut it to six in the fourth quarter, but the Marauders closed it out with free throws from Ertel and Fitzgerald.
Ertel was the only Marauder in double figures. Hackett finished with nine. Bridenthal had eight and Teschendorf scored seven.
Gavin Welch led New Castle with 17. Ethan Hinton had 11 before fouling out.
“Even when you don’t have great individual performances, the goal is to get the win at the end of the night. That’s what we did,” Rhoades added.
Mt. Vernon takes on Floyd Central at noon on Thursday, Dec. 29 at the Roncalli Invitational. Depending on results, the Marauders will take on either Roncalli or University later in the evening.
