NEW MARKET — It was sweet, sweet revenge for Southmont boys’ basketball on Saturday night.
Just 15 days removed from a 84-43 blowout loss to Crawfordsville, the Mounties overcame a six-point deficit in the fourth quarter to top the Athenians 58-56 in overtime, and clinch the county title.
“We were really embarrassed from the first time we played them, and we were really angry,” Southmont coach Jake Turner said. “We wanted to play with a chip on our shoulders, and take it to them, and we did. I couldn’t be prouder of my guys.”
Reese Long buried the 3-pointer to tie it, and Luke Gregg hit the put-back shot to win it — but it was a complete team effort by the Mounties in completing the upset bid.
Southmont (3-10, 2-2) trailed 44-38 with 4:21 to play, and responded with a 17-point burst in the final 3:34, to force overtime. Jesse Hall sinked a pair of free throws to push the Athenian ahead 51-48 with 10 seconds left, before Long buried a 3-pointer with 3.4 seconds left to send the game to extra time.
“Reese Long hit a big shot,” Turner said. “He’s a good shooter, but his percentages wouldn’t show that. He hit a huge shot to send it to overtime, and we executed that set excellently.”
The Mounties once again fell behind early in the overtime period, but there was no amount of adversity stopping Southmont.
Trailing 55-51, Austin Bowman buried a 3-pointer to make it 55-54 with 40 seconds left. Bowman gave the Mounties the lead at 56-55 with 16 seconds left, before Crawfordsville’s Karsten Williamson hit 1-of-2 free throws to tie it at 56-56 — setting up Gregg’s put-back opportunity off a Logan Oppy miss at the buzzer.
“Luke Gregg played like a man,” Turner said. “That’s the most active he’s been all season, and it’s fitting that he was able to get that tip-in at the end.”
Bowman led all scorers with 22 points, while Williamson led the Athenians with 18.
Crawfordsville (8-6, 1-2 SAC) struggled from the field (17-of-54), but even more so at the charity stripe (16-of-30).
“We played hard, and there was good effort, but we deserved to lose,” Crawfordsville coach David Pierce said. “We were 16-of-30 from the line and we took 21 three’s. All of our key players had off shooting nights. It was the worst shooting performance of the year.”
The Athenians cashed in on only 6 of those 21 3-point attempts. As Ty Lynas added 11 points, and Carson Scott nine.
Avery Saunders chipped in 12 points for the Mounties, but eventually fouled out — and Carson Chadd added eight, but left the game early in the fourth quarter with a right ankle injury.
“We battled a lot of adversity in this game,” Turner said of foul trouble and injuries the Mounties faced.
Crawfordsville hosts Frankfort on Friday, while Southmont travels to Seeger on Wednesday.
Southmont 58, Crawfordsville 56 OT
CHS 11 14 14 12 5 — 56
SM 10 10 15 16 7 — 58
CHS (8-6, 1-2 SAC): Ty Lynas 3 3-7 11, Carson Scott 3 0-0 9, Karsten Williamson 5 8-13 18, Ziair Morgan, 2 0-0 5, Jesse Hall 2 4-5 8, Cole Watt 1 0-0 2, Nate Mayer 0 0-2 0, Ian Hensley 0 0-0 0, Mekhi Wallace 1 1-4 3; Totals 17-54 16-30 56.
SM (3-10, 2-2 SAC): Drew Glancy 0 2-2 2, Reese Long 2 0-0 5, Carson Chadd 4 0-3 8, Cale Hess 1 0-0 2, Austin Bowman 8 5-8 22, Logan Oppy 2 0-0 5, Conner McVay 0 0-0 0, Cam King 0-1 0-0 0, Avery Saunders 4 3-5 12, Keaton Conkright 0 0-0 0, Luke Gregg 1 0-0 2.
3-Point Shooting: CHS 6-21 (Scott 3, Lynas 2, Morgan), SM 4-12 (Long, Bowman, Oppy, Saunders).
Rebounds: CHS 37, SM 36
Turnovers: CHS 13, SM 17
