Late Mt. Vernon rally steals HHC win from Golden Bears

Shelbyville let a golden opportunity to stay on top of the Hoosier Heritage Conference standings slip away Friday at William L. Garrett Gymnasium.

The Golden Bears led Mt. Vernon by as many as 19 points very early in the third quarter and were still up by 10 and in the bonus with 2:55 to go and could not hold off the Marauders.

Purdue recruit Luke Ertel scored 11 points and had two assists over the final eight minutes to get Mt. Vernon a 64-57 victory. The Marauders scored the final 17 points of the game and outscored the Golden Bears 27-9 in the quarter.

“That is a tough loss when you are in control the whole entire game,” said Shelbyville head coach John Hartnett Jr. “The last two games we’ve had lack of discipline at the end of the games.”

On Tuesday, Shelbyville led at Greenwood, 58-53, with 3:32 to go and lost 63-61. Three nights later, the Marauders hit five 3s in the final quarter and Shelbyville shot just 18% from the field and only took four free throws when it was in the bonus for the final half of the quarter.

“I remember at the end of this game yelling free throws and layups and we ended up getting three 3s up instead of making them foul us and get to the free throw line – and we were in the penalty,” said Hartnett. “They are pretty bummed out because they should have pulled off (the win) against a tough Mt. Vernon team. I thought for three-and-a-half quarters we did an excellent job and stuck to the game plan and we guarded Ertel pretty well – he only had three (points) at the half – and then he goes off in the second half.”

Ertel, a junior, finished with 21 points, six rebounds and four assists to improve Mt. Vernon to 6-1 (3-0 HHC). Elijah Parra had 13 points while sophomore Max Vise had 21 points, three rebounds and two blocked shots.

Caden Claxton led Shelbyville (5-2, 1-1 HHC) with 21 points. Mar Nicholson followed with 16 points and five rebounds. Brody Runnebohm scored 10 points – all in the first quarter.

Shelbyville had its best shooting quarter of the season in the opening quarter Friday. Claxton and Runnebohm combined to make five 3s and the team shot 89% (8 of 9) from the field. That led to a 22-12 lead.

The Golden Bears made all six free-throw attempts in the second quarter and extended the lead to 36-20 by halftime.

A Claxton 3 from the wing pushed the lead to 41-22 with 7:08 to go in the third quarter but the Golden Bears never delivered the knockout blow.

Ertel picked up his intensity and the Mt. Vernon defense forced five turnovers in the quarter but still trailed 48-37 going into the fourth quarter.

Mt. Vernon quickly got within six points with an Ertel short jumper in the lane.

Cole Schene scored at the other end and Claxton got the Golden Bears in the bonus with 4:13 to go and hit both free throws for a 57-47 lead.

Shelbyville failed to score again.

Ertel hit a step-back 3 to start the 17-0 run. Parra cut the lead to 57-55 with a corner 3. And Ertel added another 3 with 66 seconds left to give Mt. Vernon its first lead of the game.

The Marauders hit 6 of 8 free throws from there to seal the win.

Mt. Vernon won the junior varsity game, 50-36. Jack Guerre scored 10 points to lead the Marauders.

Josue Isaac finished with 15 points to lead Shelbyville (2-5).

Shelbyville closes out its week Saturday night at Garrett Gymnasium against Yorktown (3-3, 0-2), who suffered a 68-41 loss at Class 4A, No. 3 Greenfield-Central Friday.

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