In a wild ending Tuesday night, Mt. Vernon scored six points in the final second to snatch a victory from Westfield in Fortville. (Pictured: Zach Banks)

It was a duel of guards early as Westfield freshman Braden Smith came out of the gates hot, hitting a pair of deep threes from the right side to open the scoring for the Shamrocks. Mt. Vernon junior Brandon Bell would answer by scoring the first six points for the Marauders. Smith would go on to hit another three-pointer as both players would reach double figures by the end of the period.

 

Mt. Vernon would respond in the second as the tempo increased. The hosts cut into the deficit and would take the lead as Peyton Meadors led the charge that resulted in a 20-10 scoring advantage in the second quarter, giving Mt. Vernon a five-point lead heading into the locker rooms.

 

Just like the start of the game, Westfield came out from halftime firing from deep, as Caleb Welch would hit back to back threes, both off feeds from Braden Smith, to take a short-lived lead. But the Marauders would respond to maintain their five-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.

 

Westfield would tie the game at 44 following a 5-0 run to start the quarter. Again, Mt. Vernon would fight back to take the lead at 50-46. But offensive rebounds on two straight possessions for Westfield from Camden Simmons would lead to threes from Caleb Welch and Braden Smith, giving the visitors a two-point cushion with under three minutes to go. The score would remain that way until under 30 seconds were left.

 

Following a missed Westfield layup, Mt. Vernon would look to attack, but Peyton Meadors was whistled for traveling and the ball went back to the Shamrocks. Zach Banks was fouled and split a pair of foul shots. Meadors would race down for a layup that cut his team’s deficit to a single point. From there, things got very interesting.

 

Zach Banks was fouled on the inbounds and stepped to the line for a one and one try. But one official called a lane violation on Banks’ first attempt when he stepped on the foul line, giving the ball to Mt. Vernon with just under 10 ticks left. A drive by Meadors would miss and go out of bounds with 0.9 remaining with the call initially going to Westfield. That call, however, was overturned, and Westfield coach Shane Sumpter was not pleased. He stepped out on the court to protest the decision and was slapped with a technical foul. 

 

Keith Rupert would calmly sink the two technical free throws to give Mt. Vernon a one-point lead. Peyton Meadors was immediately fouled on the inbounds play, and Shane Sumpter, who was still giving an earful to the officials, was hit with his second technical foul and ejected. That gave the home team four more free throws, and Meadors and Rupert would each hit two with 0.4 on the clock to tally the final margin.

 

 

Westfield     17  10  12  14  -  53

Mt. Vernon  12  20  12  14  -  58

 

Westfield: Caleb Welch 19 points (7/15 FGs, 4/8 3Ps, 1/2 FTs); Braden Smith 14 points (5/10 FGs, 4/8 3Ps), 3 asts, 2 stls; Zach Banks 7 points (2/8 FGs, 3/5 FTs), 3 asts; Chris Chin 7 points (1/2 FGs, 5/5 FTs), 4 rebs; Eli Patchett 4 points; Zach Byrer 2 points

 

Mt. Vernon: Brandon Bell 18 points (7/12 FGs, 1/4 3Ps, 3/4 FTs); Peyton Meadors 15 points (7/11 FGs, 1/2 FTs), 3 asts; Keith Rupert 13 points (3/6 FGs, 1/4 3Ps, 6/6 FTs); Ryan Morris 8 points; Cade Gentry 2 points (0/7 FGs, 2/2 FTs), 5 rebs, 3 asts, 3 stls; Jacob Frank 2 points