Staff report
INDIANAPOLIS — Mt. Vernon’s boys basketball team got a big lead early and kept its foot to the pedal in defeating previously unbeaten University to win the championship game of the Roncalli Holiday Tournament Thursday.
Three Marauders scored in double figures in a 65-41 victory.
Mt. Vernon (7-3) led by 10, 17-7, at the end of the first period and stretched the lead to 16 (36-20) by halftime. The Marauders had a 24-point lead going into the final quarter.
University dropped to 7-1.
“What we really did tonight was limit our turnovers,” Mt. Vernon coach Ben Rhoades said. “When you’re playing your second game and as fast as they are and as much as their hands are all over you, we did a good job of eliminating silly mistakes. That led to some really easy buckets that helped us get some separation early in the game.”
Freshman Luke Ertel led Mt. Vernon scorers with 16 points. Another frosh, R’mani Wells had 12 points, including eight in the first half. Senior Adam Hackett had 12. He hit three 3-pointers and had 11 second-half points.
It was a season-high for Wells, who came in averaging 4.0 points per game.
“(In the championship game) R’mani Wells played one of his best games of the year, overall,” Rhoades said. “We need him to become more aggressive. I think our whole team needs to be more aggressive. He did step up and that helped us. Adam had a really good second half … He really came on when we needed him and helped separate us from University.”
Senior Eli Bridenthal added nine. Sabien Cain led University with 16 points.
Mt. Vernon reached the title game after a 63-54 victory in the afternoon over Floyd Central (1-5).
The Marauders outscored the Highlanders 17-12 in the second quarter to take a 30-29 halftime lead. Mt. Vernon trailed by as much as nine points in the first half.
Floyd Central regained the lead in the third period and led 46-44 heading into the final eight minutes.
Mt. Vernon held Floyd Central to just eight fourth-quarter points.
Ertel scored 23 points, including 9 of 10 at the free-throw line. He went 5-for-6 at the stripe in the fourth quarter. Ertel hit four 3-point field goals.
Frosh Julien Smith and Bridenthal scored 14 apiece.
As a team, Mt. Vernon went 12 of 12 at the line in the final quarter. Bridenthal, Brady Fitzgerald and Tanner Teschendorf each went 2 of 2.
Mt. Vernon plays host to Westfield Tuesday.
