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.
Showing posts with label sectional basketball. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sectional basketball. Show all posts
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Looking ahead
There's a huge game tonight between the Marauders and Golden Bears for the sectional championship. MV looking for its first title since 1999 and 11th in school history, Shelby looking for its first since 2001, which would make 37 in its illustrious basketball history.
Listen to the game here, beginning at 7:10 p.m.
Friday night reminded me of the old one-class days -- by halftime of the MV-HH game, it was standing room only, with people standing on the stairways overlooking the gym and crammed into every available seat. The hallway adjacent to the gym was packed during the fourth quarter. The parking lot was so full, The Shelbyville News' Jeff Brown told me he parked "in downtown Indianapolis."
That felt like a sectional. Great atmosphere, very passionate and a lot of fun. Expect a similar atmosphere tonight when Mt. Vernon faces Shelbyville. I'd expect to see a huge Marauder crowd on hand, given it's a home game, and a sizeable contingent of Bear fans.
The first time they played, MV won 99-82. P.J. Hubert had 28 points, while Daniel Turner and D'Armond Davis had 21 each for MV in that game. Three Golden Bears were also in double-figures.
The winner cuts down the nets, adds to the trophy case in its school and moves on to the March 13 regional at Shelbyville, which could be one of the state's most dynamite.
The winner of tonight's game faces either #7 Greensburg (19-2) or Batesville (18-4) in the opening game of the regional at 10 a.m. Saturday. Greensburg won the regional title last season, and is led by Stacy Meyer, who led Southwestern (Shelby) to the State Finals a number of years ago. One of Greensburg's losses is to Rushville, a team both the Marauders and Golden Bears (twice) have defeated. Greensburg beat Shelby 64-58 on Jan. 8, and hasn't played MV. Greensburg & Batesville have played two close games, with Greensburg winning 45-42 and 48-38.
The noon semifinal pits the winner of the Indianapolis sectional (Brebeuf 13-8 vs. #12 Howe 20-5) against the winner of the Danville sectional, which includes #1 Danville (22-1) and Purdue signee Travis Carroll. Lebanon (13-9) is tonight's foe. Danville beat the Tigers 71-39 earlier this season and is a heavy favorite -- the Warriors' only loss is to 4A #3 North Central.
We will broadcast all of Mt. Vernon's games the rest of the tournament, so we will be at Shelbyville next week should the Marauders win tonight, at 9:40 a.m. for the semis, and at 7:40 p.m. for the championship game should MV win.
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In the northern half of the draw, Friday was "carnage night" in Class 3A -- partially due to the Hoosier Heritage Conference. Two top-five teams were defeated.
#4 Mississinewa -- which had been 20-1 -- was defeated 51-41 by Delta at the Muncie Fieldhouse. Paul Keller's Eagles (12-9) will play another all-HHC final tonight, as they face Yorktown (13-8). Those two split their regular-season meetings. Mississinewa was denied a shot at its first sectional title since 1954.
#2 Peru finished the regular season 19-1 and rolled through much of its schedule, with an average win margin of 18. The only loss was a two-point defeat to 4A Logansport. However, the Tigers fell behind early last night and couldn't catch up, falling to Norwell 53-51.
Some other strong -- yet unranked -- teams were defeated, including defending state champ Princeton, which finished 17-9, and multi-time champ and usual 3A sleeper Harding of the Fort Wayne area (16-7). Princeton fell to Vincennes and Harding lost to FW Dwenger. Culver Military, a somewhat loaded 14-8 team that was 10-2 against Indiana teams had played a lot of out-of-state schools and had some huge victories on its resume (namely, one over Pike and another over 1A #1 Gary Bowman), was beaten in OT last night by defending 3A runner-up Rochester.
The rest of the 3A top 10 is still in action, with six of the remaining eight ranked teams in the southern half. #5 Gary Wallace (15-4) or the soon-to-be-closed #9 Fort Wayne Elmhurst (15-5) are the favorites in the north. The south features #1 Danville, #3 MV and #7 Greensburg (and #12 Howe) all feeding into the Shelbyville regional, and #6 Washington, #8 Sullivan and #10 Crawford County (as well as #11 Boonville) all feeding into the Washington regional.
Listen to the game here, beginning at 7:10 p.m.
Friday night reminded me of the old one-class days -- by halftime of the MV-HH game, it was standing room only, with people standing on the stairways overlooking the gym and crammed into every available seat. The hallway adjacent to the gym was packed during the fourth quarter. The parking lot was so full, The Shelbyville News' Jeff Brown told me he parked "in downtown Indianapolis."
That felt like a sectional. Great atmosphere, very passionate and a lot of fun. Expect a similar atmosphere tonight when Mt. Vernon faces Shelbyville. I'd expect to see a huge Marauder crowd on hand, given it's a home game, and a sizeable contingent of Bear fans.
The first time they played, MV won 99-82. P.J. Hubert had 28 points, while Daniel Turner and D'Armond Davis had 21 each for MV in that game. Three Golden Bears were also in double-figures.
The winner cuts down the nets, adds to the trophy case in its school and moves on to the March 13 regional at Shelbyville, which could be one of the state's most dynamite.
The winner of tonight's game faces either #7 Greensburg (19-2) or Batesville (18-4) in the opening game of the regional at 10 a.m. Saturday. Greensburg won the regional title last season, and is led by Stacy Meyer, who led Southwestern (Shelby) to the State Finals a number of years ago. One of Greensburg's losses is to Rushville, a team both the Marauders and Golden Bears (twice) have defeated. Greensburg beat Shelby 64-58 on Jan. 8, and hasn't played MV. Greensburg & Batesville have played two close games, with Greensburg winning 45-42 and 48-38.
The noon semifinal pits the winner of the Indianapolis sectional (Brebeuf 13-8 vs. #12 Howe 20-5) against the winner of the Danville sectional, which includes #1 Danville (22-1) and Purdue signee Travis Carroll. Lebanon (13-9) is tonight's foe. Danville beat the Tigers 71-39 earlier this season and is a heavy favorite -- the Warriors' only loss is to 4A #3 North Central.
We will broadcast all of Mt. Vernon's games the rest of the tournament, so we will be at Shelbyville next week should the Marauders win tonight, at 9:40 a.m. for the semis, and at 7:40 p.m. for the championship game should MV win.
==
In the northern half of the draw, Friday was "carnage night" in Class 3A -- partially due to the Hoosier Heritage Conference. Two top-five teams were defeated.
#4 Mississinewa -- which had been 20-1 -- was defeated 51-41 by Delta at the Muncie Fieldhouse. Paul Keller's Eagles (12-9) will play another all-HHC final tonight, as they face Yorktown (13-8). Those two split their regular-season meetings. Mississinewa was denied a shot at its first sectional title since 1954.
#2 Peru finished the regular season 19-1 and rolled through much of its schedule, with an average win margin of 18. The only loss was a two-point defeat to 4A Logansport. However, the Tigers fell behind early last night and couldn't catch up, falling to Norwell 53-51.
Some other strong -- yet unranked -- teams were defeated, including defending state champ Princeton, which finished 17-9, and multi-time champ and usual 3A sleeper Harding of the Fort Wayne area (16-7). Princeton fell to Vincennes and Harding lost to FW Dwenger. Culver Military, a somewhat loaded 14-8 team that was 10-2 against Indiana teams had played a lot of out-of-state schools and had some huge victories on its resume (namely, one over Pike and another over 1A #1 Gary Bowman), was beaten in OT last night by defending 3A runner-up Rochester.
The rest of the 3A top 10 is still in action, with six of the remaining eight ranked teams in the southern half. #5 Gary Wallace (15-4) or the soon-to-be-closed #9 Fort Wayne Elmhurst (15-5) are the favorites in the north. The south features #1 Danville, #3 MV and #7 Greensburg (and #12 Howe) all feeding into the Shelbyville regional, and #6 Washington, #8 Sullivan and #10 Crawford County (as well as #11 Boonville) all feeding into the Washington regional.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Wow.
What a first game of the sectional. Shelbyville rallies from a 14-point deficit, outscores New Palestine 27-11 over the last 9 minutes, and wins 50-48 on a last-second drive by Patrick Ellis.
The Golden Bears won it with the 3-point shot, with John Krise starting things with a long 3, and then John Hartnett adding one right ahead of the third-quarter buzzer that seemed to turn momentum. A helter-skelter first two minutes of the fourth quarter followed, but Krise bounced in another long 3 to cut the deficit to four, and all of a sudden, the game was close.
Shelby finally tied the game at 45, and NP's Taylor Rainey played hero, hitting a long 3 to give the Dragons a 48-45 lead. But the Bears took it out of the net, pushed it ahead and Ben Kramer buried the game-tying shot out of the corner seconds later to knot things in the closing minute. Ellis then stole an inbounds pass and held for one. After a timeout, he dribbled through NP's 1-3-1 zone and laid the ball in with 4.1 seconds left. The Dragons got off a late look from Trevor Baker, but it fell off, giving Shelbyville a victory.
Krise had 12, Ellis 10 for Shelbyville, which hit 6-of-12 from deep in the second half. Krise had 10 points in the final nine minutes, and also hit a putback at the first-half buzzer to cut what had been a nine-point NP lead to 23-20. Rainey had 12 and Baker 11 for NP, with nine of Baker's points coming in the second half.
NP finishes 11-10, with a couple of OT losses and a couple of last-second ones. Seven seniors graduate for the Dragons, but they were the nucleus of a 2009 sectional championship team. Shelby, which is junior-loaded, heads to face Rushville in Friday's second semifinal.
We will be broadcasting Friday's first semifinal between Mt. Vernon (19-2) and Hamilton Heights (12-7), with the pregame at 5:40 p.m.
The title game will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturday if the Golden Bears win on Friday night; it will be Monday if Rushville wins, as the game will be moved to accommodate the Rushville girls team playing in the State Finals.
The Golden Bears won it with the 3-point shot, with John Krise starting things with a long 3, and then John Hartnett adding one right ahead of the third-quarter buzzer that seemed to turn momentum. A helter-skelter first two minutes of the fourth quarter followed, but Krise bounced in another long 3 to cut the deficit to four, and all of a sudden, the game was close.
Shelby finally tied the game at 45, and NP's Taylor Rainey played hero, hitting a long 3 to give the Dragons a 48-45 lead. But the Bears took it out of the net, pushed it ahead and Ben Kramer buried the game-tying shot out of the corner seconds later to knot things in the closing minute. Ellis then stole an inbounds pass and held for one. After a timeout, he dribbled through NP's 1-3-1 zone and laid the ball in with 4.1 seconds left. The Dragons got off a late look from Trevor Baker, but it fell off, giving Shelbyville a victory.
Krise had 12, Ellis 10 for Shelbyville, which hit 6-of-12 from deep in the second half. Krise had 10 points in the final nine minutes, and also hit a putback at the first-half buzzer to cut what had been a nine-point NP lead to 23-20. Rainey had 12 and Baker 11 for NP, with nine of Baker's points coming in the second half.
NP finishes 11-10, with a couple of OT losses and a couple of last-second ones. Seven seniors graduate for the Dragons, but they were the nucleus of a 2009 sectional championship team. Shelby, which is junior-loaded, heads to face Rushville in Friday's second semifinal.
We will be broadcasting Friday's first semifinal between Mt. Vernon (19-2) and Hamilton Heights (12-7), with the pregame at 5:40 p.m.
The title game will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturday if the Golden Bears win on Friday night; it will be Monday if Rushville wins, as the game will be moved to accommodate the Rushville girls team playing in the State Finals.
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