Marauders win

Mt. Vernon was as dominant in the sectional as it had been for much of the regular season post-Christmas, as the Marauders led from wire-to-wire and beat Shelbyville 57-37 in Saturday's sectional championship game.

One thing coach Steve Lynch told me before the game was that Dec. 18-19 weekend -- in which the Marauders beat Shelby 99-82 and then lost to Tipton 66-65 -- got MV to refocus on its defense. Since, only one team has broken 50 points against MV, and that was an 80-54 win over Rushville. That was certainly the case in this sectional, as tonight's game was played at a fast pace, but the Bears were still held to 37 points -- including just 13 in the second half, as Shelby's 3-point shooting went away. Shelby hit six 3s in the first half and trailed 33-24 at the break, but an 11-4 third quarter allowed MV to pull away.

Daniel Turner scored nine of his game-high 23 points in the third. P.J. Hubert got MV off to a big start with seven first-quarter points -- including a catch-and-shoot 3 on his first touch that gave MV an early two-possession lead. He finished with nine. Quinn Williams added 10 points off the bench. It was really a good all-around effort for the Marauders, even with Turner doing a lot of the scoring. As usual, he was a load inside and difficult for the Golden Bears to stop.

The 3-point shooting kept Shelby in the game for a while -- the Bears hit three straight 3s to cut a 12-point MV lead to 20-17 in the second -- but the Marauders answered with eight straight points to push the edge back into double-digits, and it remained there much of the rest of the way.

It was simply a workmanlike performance from an MV team that has put together a bunch of them recently. The Marauders' 2-3 zone rarely allowed Shelby any looks -- the Bears' leading scorers had eight points -- and for the second straight night, it clamped down on the opposing team's top scorers. On the other end, the Marauders used a fast start and then gradually pulled away.

There was a long, happy celebration as MV cut down the nets for the school's 11th sectional title and first since 1999 -- ironically, also won by beating Shelbyville in the final. MV's four senior starters all left the game to huge ovations, and longtime aide Lowell Thomas was the first one up the ladder to cut down the nets. This is Thomas' 33rd and final year of working with the Marauder program.

We named Turner, Hubert, Jake Stafford, D'Armond Davis from MV; Shelbyville's Patrick Ellis & John Krise and Rushville's Jon Thompson to our All-Tournament Team. Turner was the tourney's Most Outstanding Player.

It was an outstanding sectional with some great plays, great finishes and good teams -- all five had a winning record going in. But the Marauders stood head and shoulders above the competition -- winning both games by healthy double-digit margins.
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Now, the focus shifts to the regional. MV faces #7 Greensburg (20-2), which defeated Batesville 49-48 in OT to win the Greensburg sectional.

The other half of the draw will pit #1 Danville (23-1) against Brebeuf (14-8).

We will broadcast all of the Marauders' games, starting with the regional semifinal. Tipoff is 10 a.m., airtime 9:40 a.m. Listen to Andrew & Chris here!

The championship game will be at 8 p.m. Saturday, with the pregame at 7:40 from Shelbyville's Garrett Gymnasium. Looking forward to seeing you there.