FORTVILLE — Mt. Vernon’s 27-point third quarter turned a close game at the half into a dominant finish to the 2023 portion of the boys basketball schedule.
Mt. Vernon improved to 6-4 on the season with a 65-44 win over visiting Columbus East Friday.
The Marauders had a slim 23-21 lead at the break. They outscored the Olympians 27-9 in the third quarter.
The Marauders hit 9 of 13 shots (69.2 percent) from the field.
Leading the way was Elijah Parra, who had 15 third-quarter points.
He didn’t shy away of what he does well even though the first two quarters didn’t go his way.
The Mt. Vernon sophomore sharpshooter missed all six of his shot attempts in the first half, but he came out ready to fire away when the second half got underway.
He made four of his first five second-half 3-point shot attempts. The one he didn’t make he was fouled. He converted all three free throws.
“I think, without a doubt, Elijah got us a big boost in the third quarter,” Mt. Vernon coach Joe Bradburn said. “It was something we needed, but the bigger picture of that — and we talked about it at halftime — we have to start to make the right basketball plays.
“In the first half we got excited, anxious and [took some bad shots]. We [needed to] stay with what we do. My thought in the third quarter, the bigger part of it, [point guard] Julien [Smith] got us into some offenses, our touch-action to get the ball in the paint a little bit. And, when we take good shots, we’re a really good shooting team. That was the difference in the third quarter, we took good shots.”
Smith was finding the right people and doing his share of scoring, too.
Another sophomore standout, Smith led the Marauders in scoring with 18 points. He had eight in the third quarter. Parra finished with 17 and, another sophomore, R’Mani Wells came off the bench to score 16.
Bradburn said another key, early, was the team showing poise when the game looked like it was turning toward the Olympians.
Columbus East’s Ethan Bumbalough made sure Mt. Vernon didn’t get too comfortable with its 12-4 first-quarter lead. Bumbalough had 12 second-quarter points and led an 11-2 run to begin the second period to give the Olympians their first lead since early in the first period.
Bumbalough had a pair of treys in the first three minutes of the second period. The second gave Columbus East a 15-14 lead.
But, each time the Olympians took the lead, the Marauders had an answer.
Aden Daugherty’s reverse layup came on the next possession following Bumbalough’s go-ahead 3. Bumbalough scored again at the 4:14 mark to give East a 17-16 advantage, but Wells quickly answered 14 seconds later to put the Marauders back on top.
On East’s next possession, Daugherty had a steal. He found Smith for an open 3-point look and Smith drained it for a 21-17 Mt. Vernon advantage. Smith had eight first-half points. Wells was 3-for-3 from the field in the second quarter and had six points.
Bumbalough was 5-for-6 from the field in the second quarter and 5-for-8 in the first half. He was the game’s leading scorer with 22 points.
“We talk about the steady ship sails the best at practice,” Bradburn said. “That’s something we have to continue to work on. … We didn’t get rattled, we stayed steady throughout the game and it gave us a chance to get in a rhythm.”
Mt. Vernon (6-4) travels to Westfield (6-0) on Tuesday. Columbus East (3-6) will host Shelbyville on Jan. 9.
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Mt. Vernon 65, Columbus East 44
Columbus East;4;17;9;14;—;44
Mt. Vernon;12;11;27;15;—;65
Columbus East (3-6): Ethan Bumbalough 8 2-2 22, Alex Duncan 0 0-2 0, Keaton Lawson 4 2-3 10, Jackson Fischvogt 2 0-0 4, Mason Reeves 0 0-0 0, Carter Patterson 3 0-0 8, Daniel Coriden 0 0-0 0, Anthony Cowan 0 0-0 0, Zay Frye 0 0-0 0, Manvilla 0 0-0 0, Kadin Lobdell 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17 4-7 44.
Mt. Vernon (6-4). Brady Fitzgerald 1 0-1 2, Tanner Teschendorf 1 2-2 4, Aden Daugherty 2 1-2 5, Julien Smith 7 2-2 18, Elijah Parra 5 3-3 17, Charlie Cross 0 0-0 0, Tyler Davis 1 1-2 3, R’mani Wells 6 4-6 16, Ryker Baer 0 0-0 0, Max Vise 0 0-0 0, Jack Guerre 0 0-0 0. Totals: 23 13-18 65.
3-point goals: Columbus East 6 (Bumbalough 4, Patterson 2), Mt. Vernon 6 (Parra 4, Smith 2)
