Mounties close strong to take down Tiger Cubs

NEW MARKET -— After a tough Sagamore Conference loss on Friday night to Danville, Southmont boys basketball quickly turned around for a game against a potential sectional foe in Greencastle on Saturday. Friday the Mounties didn’t have either Carson Chadd or Vince Reimondo as Chadd was nursing an ankle injury and Reimondo was out sick. Both players returned against the Tiger Cubs and made their impact felt as despite being a close game for three quarters, Southmont pulled away in the final eight minutes for a 64-55 bounce back win.

The Mounties led 33-32 at the half, and 51-49 after three quarters as the young Tiger Cubs were giving the Mounties all they could handle. Thanks to some stifling defense and ball pressure, South allowed just six points in the final quarter.

“Offensively tonight we were really efficient I thought,” Southmont coach Jake Turner said. “Greencastle has a good team and they’re only going to get better. Coach Rector does an excellent job with them. As I keep telling our guys, winning basketball games is a very hard thing to do so we have to appreciate it anyway we can.”

Chadd in his return led all scorers with 19 points and added 10 rebounds. Reimondo scored 13 as well in his return. EJ Brewer scored 12 and Trip Ward scored 10 as the Mounties had four scorers in double figures. Both Hayden Hess and Lucas Oppy scored four and Kyler McCandless had two and did a great job crashing the glass with seven rebounds.

For the game the Mounties shot 24-45 (53%) from the field and 12-19 (63%) from the free-throw line and only committed seven turnovers. Turner noted how it was obvious the difference that having both Chadd and Reimondo back out there playing like they always do.

“Carson is just the engine that makes us go and he did a great job of being a vocal leader tonight,” Turner said. “Vince you can see him getting better every time he steps on the floor. His confidence is only going to continue to get better. What I liked most about this game is everyone contributed. Having four guys score in double figures usually leads to good things. Guys like Kyler and Lucas do everything we ask of them. I was also very proud of Hayden because he was down on himself after last night. He made a crucial steal ans scored it late. Just everyone made a lot of good plays tonight.”

The Tiger Cubs had three players score in double figures led by senior Cole Hutcheson’s 18. Freshman Sam Gooch scored 15 while Cody Evans had 11. Boyd Ensley had a stretch late in the third quarter where he hit three straight threes as ended with nine. Nathan Sutherlin rounded out the scoring for GC with two. Greencastle who 22-43 (51%) from the field and 7-13 (54%) from three point range.

“Overall we’re seeing progress with this team, but we don’t take any moral victories,” Tiger Cubs coach Bryce Rector said. “We just have to find ways to make winning basketball plays. We had a too many turnovers in the final few minutes and you’re not going to win games like that. Our rebounding and keeping guys off the offensive glass has to improve but for the most part I thought we did a good job defensively.”

The loss for the Tiger Cubs sees their record fall to 1-5 on the season. They’ll return to action on Friday for a conference showdown with Sullivan.

Southmont improves to 4-2 on the year and will be back at home on Tuesday for a game against Class A International (1-3). That game will be the second game of the evening as the Lady Mounties will get things going at 6 pm as they take on Bethesda Christian.

Greencastle (1-5) FG-FGA FT-FTA PTS: Sam Gooch 7-13 0-1 15, Anthony Adams 0-4 0-0 0, Nathan Sutherlin 1-1 0-0 2, Boyd Ensley 3-3 0-0 9, Cody Evans 4-6 1-1 11, Jacob Simmerman 0-0 0-0 0, Cole Hutcheson 8-15 1-2 18; Totals 22-43 2-4 55

Southmont (4-2): Carson Chadd 9-16 1-2 19, Vince Reimondo 3-6 5-5 13, Trip Ward 3-7 2-3 10, Kyler McCandless 1-2 0-2 2, Lucas Oppy 2-4 0-1 4, Hayden Hess 1-1 2-2 4, EJ Brewer 5-9 2-4 12; Totals 24-45 12-19 64

3-Point Shooting: GC 7-13 (Ensley 3, Evans 2, Gooch, Hutcheson), SM 4-10 (Reimondo 2, Ward 2)

Rebounds: GC 20 (Hutcheson 6), SM 29 (Chadd 10 McCandless 7)

Turnovers: GC 10, SM 7