FORTVILLE — Mt. Vernon has had its fair share of top-ranked matchups this season, and nearly every time they’ve risen to the occasion.
On Thursday night, they uncharacteristically did not.
In front of a packed crowd inside the Mt. Vernon gymnasium, the No. 4 ranked Noblesville Millers silenced the home fans quickly and coasted to a 57-26 win over the Marauders.
With the final month of the regular season getting underway, the Marauders and head coach Joe Bradburn hope Thursday night’s result can be a learning lesson.
“They just smacked us. They came out and were more aggressive, were more connected and were tougher. Our guys got into a comfort stage, and before they could figure things out we were already down 20.” Bradburn said. “If we take this the right way and learn from it it will pay off down the road, but right now it hurts and it was embarrassing in about every capacity. If we take it the right way though, we’ll learn from it and correct some things. That’s the focus that we have to have right now.”
Led by Justin Curry II, it took just five minutes for the Millers to grab a 10-0 lead.
Curry II began the run with three points and capped it off with a 3-pointer before Elijah Parra knocked down a free throw with 3:18 remaining in the quarter to get Mt. Vernon on the scoreboard for the first time.
Four straight Aaron Fine points helped the Millers push the lead to 16-3 by the end of the period.
“We’ve not been a big comeback team yet and that’s something that we’re trying to develop. In most games against the top teams we’ve set the stage by being able to control things at the start and have fought, we just haven’t been able to get over the hump,” Bradburn said. “Tonight, we never even had a chance. They set the tone and that made it tough. It’s something that’s hard to digest right now because it normally doesn’t happen.”
On a night the Marauders needed the offense to find its groove, scoring was hard to come by.
It took nearly seven minutes for Mt. Vernon to make its first shot from the field, in the second quarter it took nearly five minutes, and in the third it took almost half the quarter.
The Marauders, who came into the night averaging 52 points a game, were held to eight first-half points and just 14 through the first three quarters before the Noblesville starters exited the game.
In the first half, they were 0-for-10 from beyond the arc and made just two field goals. On the night, the Marauders finished 2-for-17 from 3 and found the basket nine times.
“Give them credit. They came out and got up in us and we didn’t run any offensive movements that we’re used to running. We couldn’t get into any type of flow. A big part of it is their credit, but part of it is our desire and will to fight through a tough situation. That’s something we have to get better at coming into the last month and going into the tournament. You have to have that type of mindset,” Bradburn said.
“They were long, strong and they were in position all night. They had a focus and a purpose and didn’t let Julien [Smith] have a lot of input in starting our offense. We couldn’t get into the things that we run because they had guys running at him and they were doubling him. That’s where other guys need to step up and right now we have to find other guys that are going to step up. That’s our biggest key. We need to be connected and able to help our ball handler to run a good offense, and that just didn’t happen tonight.”
Down big after one, the Marauders had trouble getting off to good starts in both the second and third quarters.
In the second, Noblesville’s Aaron Fine kicked off the period with five straight points before Smith free throws made it 22-5.
And to open the second half, five quick Mt. Vernon turnovers allowed Noblesville to push the lead to 40-8 in just over two minutes.
“Ironically, the talk at halftime was that we needed to take care of the basketball and get off to a good start in the third quarter,” Bradburn said. “It was a complete flip though. We didn’t take care of the ball and they capitalized with easy shots.”
Fine scored six of the 10 points over the run, and ended the third quarter with 10 points. He led all scorers with 21.
“Fine is a really nice player, and he knows how to attack when you don’t communicate,” Bradburn said. “He’s able to break you down and that happened tonight as well.”
Tyler Davis scored four of Mt. Vernon’s six points in the third quarter and finished the night with six points.
“The bright spot we had was that Tyler competed,” Bradburn said. “He came out and went after boards and that was awesome to see him show that he was going to fight and compete.”
Parra knocked down a pair of fourth-quarter 3s to help lead Mt. Vernon in scoring with 11.
Mt. Vernon takes on Mooresville at home Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
–
Noblesville 57, Mt. Vernon 26
Noblesville;16;14;18;9;—;57
Mt. Vernon;3;5;6;12;—26
Noblesville (16-2): Aaron Fine 9 3-4 21, Hunter Walston 1 0-0 2, Justin Curry II 7 1-3 18, Baron Walker 1 2-2 4, T.J. Davidson 2 0-0 5, Aiden Brewer 1 0-0 2, Ryan Vetor 0 1-2 1, Luke Etchison 1 2-4 4. Totals: 22 9-15 57.
Mt. Vernon (11-8): Julien Smith 1 3-4 5, Tanner Teschendorf 0 0-0 0, R’mani Wells 2 0-0 4, Elijah Parra 2 5-6 11, Brady Fitzgerald 0 0-0 0, Aden Daugherty 0 0-0 0, Ryker Baer 0 0-0 0, Tyler Davis 3 0-0 6. Totals: 8 8-10 26.
3-point goals: Noblesville 4 (Curry II 3, Davidson); Mt. Vernon 2 (Parra 2).
