GREENCASTLE — A successful basketball season for Southmont came to a less than successful ending with a 75-64 loss to South Vermillion in the semifinals of the 2A Sectional 41 Tournament.
After jumping to a 7-0 start, the Mounties were not able to absorb repeated blows by the Wildcats, who move on to the sectional championship game against Parke Heritage.
“Tournaments are like that,” South coach Michael Byrum said. “Sometimes teams just don’t perform as well as they would like. They (South Vermillion) had some guys hit some huge threes and we just couldn’t shake the nerves. We were sluggish from start to finish.”
The Wildcats, who move to 14-10 on the season with the win, got some hot shooting to first overcome the early deficit and then take the lead and the win.
It started with senior guard Dallas Coleman, who hit his first two shots.
Not that big a deal except they were both three-pointers, and were the first treys he had hit – all season.
Coleman went on to hit another three in the second quarter and finished 5-of-5 for the night and 16 points, double his season average.
Then there was Dominic Garzolini, who found every open spot a good spot to shoot from, as the senior dropped seven three-pointers and finished with 23 points, more than double his season average. After a seven treys/25-point effort against South Putnam in the first round of the tournament, Garzolini certainly liked the shooting confines of the McAnally Center.
“Those threes got us a little shell-shocked,” Byrum noted.
The Mounties were not able to match the outside shooting, as attempt after attempt missed the mark at an always hard to shoot in facility. They tied the game twice in the second quarter but never got the lead back, as they finish the season 15-8.
Aaron McMasters found his way to the rim five times in the last quarter and led South with 23 points as the senior doubled up his season average.
Fellow seniors Evan Watson and Vince Reimondo each had eight points, while senior Lucas Oppy had five points and seven boards.
Junior Austin Foley had eight to go with 13 rebounds, and sophomore Dean McGaughey had five. Freshman Caden Miller and junior Heath Tolliver rounded out the scoring with five and four points respectively. Overall, South was 27-of-57 from the field, 6-of-22 from long range and 4-of-9 from the line. The won the rebound battle 36-33.
Turnovers were also a part of the story. The Mounties finished with 12, and the Wildcats scored 13 points after, including three triples. South scored eight points after 10 SC miscues.
The Wildcats finished 26-of-49 from the field, 12-of-24 from deep and 11-of-18 from the line. Aden Wallace had 16 points and Trevor Anderson added 10. Coleman finished his double-double with 11 rebounds.
“The book on this team was written all season and will not be defined by one loss in the tournament,” Byrum said of his squad. “I’m so very proud of this team and how we handled ourselves all season. These guys are all first-class and I’m very proud to have been their coach.”
The coach also noted his five seniors — Watson, Reimondo, McMasters, Oppy and Marshall Little.
“This team started with those five seniors,” he said. “They did such a great job in the locker room. They displayed maturity and leadership from start to finish. They all have great futures and will go on to be great husbands, fathers and successful in whatever they do. They are great young men. This team improved from last season, and got better from top to bottom as the season progressed. They spent a lot of offseason time improving their skills and brought those skills to the team. Like I said, I am very proud of this team.”
