NEW CASTLE — A gutsy, hard-fought, road win in December is never a bad thing. And when it keeps you undefeated in conference play, it makes it even sweeter.
For the Mt. Vernon boys basketball team, that’s exactly what happened on Tuesday night in the New Castle Fieldhouse.
In a game they trailed for a large majority of, the Marauders (4-2, 3-0) knocked off the host Trojans (3-5, 0-3) 61-50 to move to 3-0 in the Hoosier Heritage Conference.
“It’s a huge win and a step in the right direction for us,” Mt. Vernon head coach Joe Bradburn said. “We had a lot of turnovers early that caused us to get behind and have to fight the rest of the night, but the positive of it is that we did fight.”
After the Marauders broke the scoreless tie to start the game, those early Mt. Vernon turnovers allowed the Trojans to reel off a 7-0 first-quarter run and lead 7-6 after one.
More turnovers and a stagnant offense by the Marauders allowed New Castle to push the lead to seven midway through the second period.
“We continue to try and fight our tendencies on offense, and do different things than what I want us to get done. We’ve got to continue to try and get in a rhythm,” Bradburn said. “We still don’t have a great feel of going inside out and reversing the basketball. We go driving into crowds and that causes a lot of turnovers.”
A Tucker Griffin 3-point play put the Trojans ahead 15-8, but a second-quarter takeover by MV’s Tanner Teschendorf kept the lead from growing.
He reeled off the last 11 Mt. Vernon points of the quarter to match the Trojans offense, and a basket in the closing minute assisted by Julien Smith put the Marauders ahead at the break 19-17.
A trio of New Castle 3-pointers to open the second half put the home team back in front by seven. Mason Miller hit the first, and Colin Taylor knocked down the next two to cap off the quick 9-0 New Castle run.
A trey from Mt. Vernon’s Elijah Parra ended the run, but New Castle’s Cade Logston answered with another 3.
The fifth 3-pointer of the quarter for the Trojans came at the buzzer and put them ahead by four entering the final quarter.
On the night New Castle hit nine shots from deep, the Mt. Vernon press defense forced issues in the final eight minutes. After two early 3-pointers, the Trojans were shut down from deep over the final five minutes of play.
“Defensively we gave ourselves a chance because we stayed in position. They have a lot of good shooters and can control the tempo. If you’re not prepared it can get tough and you can struggle. We stayed just tough enough tonight to give ourselves a chance,” Bradburn said. “We had to go to the press to get some energy going and get a couple of easy baskets because we just weren’t in a flow offensively. Once we got going though, we settled in offensively and were able to get some post touches.”
After a Smith basket to open the fourth, two straight Teschendorf buckets put the Marauders back in front 38-36, but the Trojans hung around.
They regained the lead 39-38, and it was later tied at 41-41, and 44-44 before the Marauders took full control for the first time all night.
After a R’mani Wells free throw, Parra knocked down all three shots at the charity stripe after being fouled on a 3-point attempt to put Mt. Vernon ahead by four.
The duo would reel off seven more points to put the Marauders ahead for good. Parra buried a 3 and a jumper, and Wells laid in an easy basket off of a Parra assist for the 55-47 advantage with two minutes remaining.
“We got into a groove and got some guys going finally,” Bradburn added. “R’mani got some big rebounds, Aden [Daugherty] dove on a loose ball, and there was some excitement on the defensive end that led to things going the other way. A lot of different guys stepped up.”
After being held scoreless in the opening half, Parra scored 18 second-half points, and 11 fourth-quarter points to lead the late Mt. Vernon surge.
“He’s [Parra] an explosive player. A sophomore that we see a lot of potential in. He has a lot of skill, and can be a point guard or a shooting guard,” Bradburn said. “He’s just doing what we need right now, and we count on him to get us going sometimes. No doubt about it, he did that for us tonight.”
Teschendorf matched Parra with 18 points, Wells added 13, and Smith finished with eight.
The Marauders are back in action Friday at 2:30 p.m. against Plainfield in the opening round of the Phil Cox Memorial Tournament in Kokomo.
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Mt. Vernon 61, New Castle 50
Mt. Vernon;6;13;13;29;—;61
New Castle;7;10; 19;14;—;50
Mt. Vernon (4-2, 3-0): Julien Smith 3 2-4 8, R’mani Wells 5 3-6 13, Elijah Parra 6 3-3 18, Tanner Teschendorf 8 1-2 18, Ryker Baer 0 0-0 0, Aden Daugherty 0 2-2 2, Brady Fitzgerald 0 0-0 0, Tyler Davis 1 0-0 2, Charlie Cross 0 0-0 0. Totals: 23 11-17 61.
New Castle (3-5, 0-3): Colin Taylor 3 2-4 10, Mason Miller 3 0-0 8, Clay Butler 2 0-0 6, Tucker Griffin 3 2-3 9, Cade Logston 2 4-6 9, Isaac Madden 1 0-0 2, Caden Blackford 1 3-3 6. Totals: 15 11-16 50.
3-point goals: Mt. Vernon 4 (Parra 3, Teschendorf); New Castle 9 (Taylor 2, Miller 2, Butler 2, Blackford, Griffin, Logston).
