NEW MARKET — Southmont’s boys basketball team fell behind early, but battled throughout, in a 58-46 season-opening loss to South Vermillion.
The first game for the Wildcats as well, the visitors had the Mounties out-gunned in a couple spots in what could be the first of many wins for the team from Clinton.
“That’s a really, really good basketball team,” South coach Jake Turner said. “I thought we were a little overwhelmed early, but we battled them and stuck with it until the end. We had a couple good comebacks, but their really good guards did what good guards do and kept control.”
Those two guards, Brice Gilman and Connor VanLannen, both seniors, combined for 21 points, nine rebounds and a dozen assists in leading the Wildcats.
They also were part of the pesky defense that forced South into 16 turnovers and limited their outside looks at the rim.
“Gilmore is really good,” Turner said of the new Hanover commit. “We had to know where he and VanLannen had to be all the time. We rotated little early at times, and they found open guys for layups.”
Those early shots became an 8-0 Wildcats lead, but the Mounties righted the defensive ship and played them even the rest of the first half.
“We changed defenses on them in the second quarter to limit their touches,” Turner said. “For a defense that we haven’t worked on much, we ran it pretty well.”
After missing their first four shots, the home team also got the offense working close to the basket. They hit 6-of-10 in one stretch, all shots in the lane, as they cut a double-digit lead down to eight in the second quarter.
Leading the South offense was Avery Saunders. The junior, coming off the bench, worked around some foul trouble but still led his squad in scoring with 12 and in rebounding with eight.
“He’s grown about two inches from last year,” Turner said. “He’s gotten long and athletic and really gets after the rebounds.”
Making his first varsity appearance was freshman Carson Chadd, who put eight points and six boards on his stat sheet. Logan Oppy was next with seven points.
For the game, the Mounties were 16-of-38 from the field, made only one of their 15 3-point attempts and were 13-of-24 from the line. They did win the rebound battle 36-33.
“We are a young team, and every day is about getting better,” Turner said. “We had Conner McVay come in and work hard (five points) and Cale Hess got his first varsity minutes and showed us that the moment is not too big.” Hess got the only triple of the game for South in the fourth quarter.
South Vermillion was 22-of-51 from the field as they also hit nothing but buckets in the paint. They hit one 3-pointer out of a dozen tries and were 13-of-20 from the line. John Piper’s 12 points was team best, Gilman was next with his 11 and VanLannen had 10, including an 8-of-8 night from the line. Parker Crossley’s nine rebounds were game-high. They finished with eight turnovers. They had a 14-5 advantage in turnovers points and a 14-5 margin in second-chance points.
Sitting in the stands scouting was North Putnam, who returns to Bob Tandy Gym Wednesday for their season opener as South has a back-to-back.
“They will be raring and ready to go,” Turner said of the Cougars. “We will work on cleaning up some things, but I really think that if we play as hard and as tough as we did against South Vermillion, we have a great opportunity.”
Southmont did win the JV game 42-38 in overtime.
Keaton Conkright led the Mounties with 10, followed by Aidan Portwood with eight. Lucas Uselman led the Wildcats with 18.
SOUTH VERMILLION 58 SOUTHMONT 46
South Vermillion 19 11 11 17 - 58
Southmont 12 5 17 12 - 46
South Vermillion (1-0): Gilman 5-12 0-0 11, Crossley 4-8 1-4 9, VanLannen 1-6 8-8 10, Piper 5-8 2-3 12, Mullins 3-6 0-0 6, Royal 0-1 1-2 1, Wanninger 1-1 0-0 2, Allen 3-5 1-3 7, Grazolini 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 22-51 13-20 58.
Southmont (0-1) Glancy 1-7 0-0 2, Bowman 2-4 0-1 4, Chadd 2-4 4-6 8, Oppy 2-10 3-4 7, Gregg 1-2 0-0 2, McVay 2-2 1-3 5, Saunders 4-5 4-7 12, Long 1-3 0-0 2, Hess 1-1 0-2 3, King 0-0 1-1 1. Totals 16-38 13-24 48.
3-Point Shooting
S.Vermillion: 1-12 (Gilman 1-3, Mullins 0-1, VanLannen 0-3, Allen 0-2, Garzolini 0-3); South: 1-15 (Hess 1-1, Glancy 0-4, Long 0-2, Bowman 0-2, Oppy 0-5, Saunders 0-1).
Rebounds
S.Vermillion: 33 (Crossley 9, Gilman 5); South 36 (Saunders 8, Chadd 6, Glancy 5, Gregg 5).
Turnovers: S.Vermilion 8; Southmont 16.
