Playing on a rare Tuesday night Southmont boys basketball was a little out of rhythm when they took on International. The first half saw the Mounties continue to hold a double-digit lead, but the score only read 30-18 at the half. South knew they were the better team as did coach Jake Turner. A halftime speech quickly got the Mounties motivated as they outscored International 29-8 in the third quarter and led 59-26 as South cruised to what would be a 70-28 win. With the game in hand Turner turned to his junior varsity players to close out the final eight minutes which featured a running clock.
“Tonight was a tough environment that we’re not quite used to yet,” Turner said. “The girls played a different team before us and we tried to keep our normal routine but playing a Tuesday night game against a team you’ve never played before can be tough to get up for. I need to do a better job to make sure our guys are ready from the tip. At halftime I was visibly frustrated and told the guys we needed to play harder. We just got after the basketball in that third quarter and pressured them and forced turnovers and were able to find our rhythm.”
Turner also noted how he was very pleased with how his team shared the ball in the win.
“We knew where we supposed to be and our bigs do such a good job of looking for each other. We have a pretty unselfish team and when we come out with energy and focus as we did in that third quarter, we’re a tough team.”
11 different Mounties found their way into the scoring column as Trip Ward led all scorers in the game with 13 points. Carson Chadd added 10. EJ Brewer scored nine, Hayden Hess eight, both Vince Reimondo and Lucas Oppy notched seven. Kyler McCandless and JV player Marshall Little scored five while fellow JV players Lorenzo Bell, Aaron McMasters, and Evan Watson all scored two. Turner took a moment to praise his JV players who got to see some varsity action on Tuesday.
“Those guys work really hard in practice and are having a successful year,” he said. “They are pushing are varsity guys and you want to see them have success any time they get a chance in a varsity game. I was happy for all of them because they deserve their opportunities.”
The win for the Mounties pushes their record to 5-2 on the season. Like the Lady Mounties, the boys will also welcome Western Boone on Friday for another Sagamore Conference matchup. Turner knows current Stars coach Dustin Oakley very well from his time coaching the Mountie girls and knows the Stars will be coming and make things tough.
“Coach Oakley and I are very good friends and I’m impressed with how hard he has his team playing. We’ll have to get two great practices in and have to play as well as we did in the third quarter for a full 32 minutes.”
SOUTHMONT 70, INTERNATIONAL 28
Score By Quarter
IN 9 9 8 2 — 28
SM 14 16 29 11 — 70
International (1-4)
FG-FGA FT-FTA Pts: Evan Johnson 3-10 0-0 8, Tristyn Patel 0-0 0-0 0, Sai Klobusnik 0-0 0-0 0, Michael Kreutz 0-1 1-2 1, Nikhil Vyas 2-4 0-0 4, Preston Slate 2-4 0-0 4, Phillip Randolph 4-14 1-2 11; Totals 11-34 2-4 28
Southmont (5-2)
Carson Chadd 5-9 0-0 10, Vince Reimondo 3-6 0-0 7, Trip Ward 5-9 0-0 13, Jacob Fox 0-1 0-0 0, Kyler McCandless 2-2 1-2 5, Lucas Oppy 3-5 1-5 7, Hayden Hess 3-5 1-1 8, Lorenzo Bell 1-1 0-0 2, EJ Brewer 4-5 1-1 9, Aaron McMasters 1-2 0-0 2, Evan Watson 1-1 0-0 2, Marshall Little 2-2 1-2 5; Totals 30-47 5-11 70
3 pt shooting: IN 4-10 (Johnson 2, Randolph 2) SM 5-11 (Ward 3, Reimondo, Hess)
Rebounding: IN 20 (Randolph 7), SM 32 (Chadd 6, Brewer 6, McCandless 5)
Turnovers: IN 15, SM 10