Mounties drop physical road game to Wolves
Jeff Nelson
Journal Review
ROCKVILLE – There is a lot of tournament basketball to be played next week, but a Parke Heritage 46-43 win over Southmont should help ticket sales leading up to the tournament with the possibility of a rematch.
The Wolves won their sixth in a row with a rough and tumble win over the Mounties, who fall to 16-5 with the loss, while PH moves to 14-9.
The two teams are in opposite brackets, and have to win twice, but both teams gave the Senior Night crowd at the old Rockadome a taste of tournament hoops.
The Wolves, shooting 29 percent from long range for the season, hit four in a row in the first quarter and seven in the first half.
They finished with nine for the game, hoisting 23 from beyond the arc.
The Mounties worked the ball inside for most of the night, but when a couple shots didn’t fall in the third quarter, they fell behind by a handful and then had to foul in the fourth to attempt the comeback.
The Wolves hit more than enough free throws to seal the win, although the Mounties did have a shot to tie the game in the final seconds.
“Parke Heritage is a good defensive team,” South coach Jake Turner said. “They held Seeger, Fountain Central and Crawfordsville in the 30’s last week, so we knew it was going to be a defensive battle, that every possession would be paramount.”
Those possessions were crucial, as South had four of their nine turnovers in the final quarter.
“I think our ball pressure got to them a little,” PH coach Rich Schelsky said. “We knew we had to pressure the perimeter as much as possible and keep the ball from the post. Avery Saunders is the best offensive rebounder we have faced this season, and Southmont gave us match up nightmares. They are easily one of the top 2-3 teams we have or will face all year. I have to give our guys credit though. They fought and scrapped for everything, and I’m proud of them. We are starting to look and play like the team we saw last summer. We are shooting better, and when we just turned the defense loose, we made it harder for them.”
One PH player who made it look easy was senior sniping guard Renn Harper.
Hitting a quarter of his three-pointers all season, Harper hit his first five. He finished with a team-best 15 points.
“That is the Harper we saw last summer,’ Schelsky said. “We are hard to guard when we can spread the ball like we did and then get it to open guys.”
The Mounties came in looking to deny the inside and let the Wolves shoot. They accomplished that, as PH had only three field goals in the paint for the game, but it was the long range shots and an 11-of-19 night from the line that made the difference.
“Their guards out on top make it tough to keep them in front of you defensively,” Turner said.
The fourth quarter saw South score the first six to tie the game, and they did take a 40-38 lead on a Logan Oppy trey, but it would be another four minutes before another field goal fell.”
“It was really loud in here,” Turner said of the bedlam in the old Rockville arena. “We have to live and learn from this. We have to handle our emotions better. “We let them dictate some things. We have be patient, trust the game plan and stay focused.”
Saunders finished the game with 23 points, and completed his double-double with 12 rebounds. The Mounties were 17-of-44 from the field, 4-of-13 from long range and 5-of-7 from the line. They won the rebound battle 34-26.
The Wolves had Christian Johnson in double-digits with 14 points, and he, along with Anthony Wood, each had six boards. They had nine turnovers.
Parke Heritage is done for the regular season and will play Cloverdale in the opening game of the 2A Section 43 tournament next Tuesday at South Putnam.
The Mounties have a trip to Indy tonight to play Indy Math and Science before heading to sectional action next week. They will play Riverton Parke next Wednesday in the first game of the evening.
