By Mike McGraw
Executive Director
PENDLETON – Leading up to the Dec. 11 battle between Class 3A sixth-ranked Mt. Vernon (Fortville) and host Pendleton Heights, the game was ballyhooed as an early season showdown between the two best squads in the Hoosier Heritage Conference. Whether that is true remains to be seen, but the contest was certainly played with that type of intensity.
This was a game where the importance of everything from the biggest shot to the smallest play was magnified. Ultimately, it may have been one of the smallest plays of all that decided the outcome in a 58-52 overtime win for Mt. Vernon.
After Heights’ Kendall Waters sent the game to overtime with a 24-foot jumper with 8.6 seconds left, Mt. Vernon won the tip to begin overtime. How did such a seemingly insignificant event have so much impact?
The answer to that is tied up in the story of a game that had more twists and turns than a back-country road. That story began with the obvious defensive intentions of both teams in the game’s early minutes.
Mt. Vernon (3-1 overall and 1-0 in league play) began the contest in a sagging man-to-man defense obviously designed to force the Arabians to score from the perimeter rather than springing people open in their motion offense.
On the other end, Pendleton Heights made it clear from the outset that the Arabians (3-2, 1-1 HHC) had no intention of letting the Marauders’ sharp-shooting P.J. Hubert get enough looks at the bucket to beat them.
Pendleton obliged the Marauders’ wishes early on as Waters sank two 3-pointers to give the Arabians an early lead. That caused Mt. Vernon to begin experimenting with different looks defensively (initially, the Maruaders went to a 2-3 zone).
Meanwhile, Hubert hit two of his three shots in the first quarter, and mate Jake Stafford supplied some offensive punch. A 5-0 spurt at the end of the period gave Mt. Vernon a 16-15 lead at the end of one stanza.
The run increased to 10 straight points early in the second quarter, and Mt. Vernon enjoyed a 21-15 margin. Defensively, the Marauders added a 1-3-1 zone to the arsenal and kept the Arabians off-balance early in the quarter.
Then Hubert picked up his second foul with just over four minutes to play in the half, and things changed in a hurry.
Suddenly, the Marauders had nobody who could find the mark from the perimeter. Missed shots meant rebounds for the Arabians, and they quickly turned those into transition points.
The scoreboard changed reports in a hurry. Pendleton Heights closed the half on a 16-5 binge and carried a 31-26 lead to the locker room.
Mt. Vernon began the second half in its fourth different defense of the contest. This time, the Marauders employed an extended, trapping 2-3 zone.
They had finally hit on the scheme that seemed to befuddle the Arabians.
Heights scored just seven points in the third quarter as they struggled to find a way to penetrate the zone. Despite playing solid defense themselves, the Arabians saw Mt. Vernon re-take the lead and maintain a 42-38 edge at the end of three quarters.
Both squads continued to struggle scoring through most of the fourth quarter. Still, Mt. Vernon’s zone defense was controlling the play, and Pendleton Heights seemed incapable of finding a way to attack it quickly.
Even on those occasions when the Arabians got a good shot, it took them a long time to find the opening. When Hubert stroked a trey to make the score 50-44 late in the quarter, it appeared the Arabians were destined to defeat.
Nathan Hendershot saw to it that appearances were deceiving. The senior guard responded with an old-fashioned three-point play for Heights to close the gap to three at 50-47.
Down the stretch, Pendleton Heights had three opportunities to tie the contest. Two came off of Mt. Vernon turnovers and a third off a missed shot. The Arabians failed on each occasion.
Finally, a Pendleton turnover proved to be the Arabians’ best friend. Mt. Vernon had the ball out-of-bounds under the Pendleton Heights basket and attempted to break the Arabian press with a long pass past midcourt.
Waters managed to break it up and somehow came out with a steal, which he took to the other end and delivered the dagger to tie the contest.
That brings us to the fateful tip to start overtime. Everyone knew the nature of the OT would hinge on who won the tip and, if it was the Marauders, whether they scored on their first possession.
If Pendleton got the ball with the game tied, the Arabians had no reason to attack that sticky, infernal zone that had plagued them the entire second half. They could take as much time as they liked to get off a shot. If Mt. Vernon scored first, the Arabians would be forced to continue trying to find a hole in the defense.
Mt. Vernon won the tap and did score on that first possession, canning two opportunities from the charity stripe. In fact, the Marauders scored two more times before Pendleton Heights could dent the scoreboard.
Little things can mean a whole lot.
Stafford and Daniel Turner led Mt. Vernon with 13 points apiece, while Hubert added a dozen. Dunham had 17 markers for the Arabians, with Hendershot adding 16.
Mt. Vernon (Fortville) is off till a Dec. 18 home conference game with Shelbyville (3-1), a 74-53 Friday night winner over Jennings County. Pendleton Heights, meanwhile, returns to action Saturday when Connersville (3-2), a 62-48 loser tonight to Richmond, comes calling.
The box score:
Mt. Vernon (Fortville) 16 10 16 8 8 – 58
Pendleton Heights 15 16 7 12 2 – 52
Mt. Vernon: Stafford 13, Turner 13, Hubert 12, Williams 9, Davis 6, Sanders 5, Bundy 0. 3-pointers: Williams 3, Hubert 2, Stafford, Sanders. Totals: 22 7-11 58
Pendleton Heights: Dunham 17, Hendershot 16, Waters 10, Obras 7, Albers 2, Wehner 0, Swartz 0. 3-pointers: Waters 3, Dunham, Hendershot, Obras. Totals: 20 6-7 52
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