Postponed 24 hours due to a second helping of snow in central Indiana, a max-capacity of fans piled into Mt. Vernon’s main gymnasium to watch Purdue commit junior Luke Ertel battle with visiting foe, Mr. Basketball front-runner and UConn commit Braylon Mullins. 

From the second Mt. Vernon won the tip-off, it was clear what type of energy would fill the air in a highly-contested HHC showdown. 

“I have been coaching for 19 years, and [this] was probably the loudest gym,” Greenfield-Central head coach Luke Meredith said. “This was the most packed I’ve seen this gym, it was lit in there.” 

The Marauders got a commanding start to the game with an 11-2 lead spearheaded by Ertel and senior Aden Daughtery. 

The commanding lead would be shortlived as senior Mikey Johnson began to attack the rim with force to get the Cougars out of their slump to start the game. 

“[Johnson] understands his role and he’s done a really good ob this year picking his spots of when he needs to make a play, he was able to give us an opportunity to be in the game,” Meredith said. “He was driving, slashing and doing [what he does] — he was huge for us tonight.” 

After several Ertel mid-range buckets, the Marauders were once again in control with a 26-15 lead midway through the second period of play. The Cougars began to steal momentum with key steals from Mullins and Johnson as they scored a flurry of buckets to cut it down to a 30-28 Marauder lead going into halftime. 

“We did the same thing against Pendelton Heights,” Johnson said. “[Coach] just told us that if you keep up the energy and do the little things, everything else will work itself out.” 

To start the second half of play, senior Dallas Freeman began to leave his mark on the contest with a corner three for the Cougars’ first lead of the game early in the second half. 

Despite a choppy night from the field for Mullins, the blue-chip recruit would continue to get his at the basket to help shift the momentum in the third quarter as the Cougar defensive intensity grew to be too much for the Marauders to handle. 

Knotted back up at 45 entering the final period of play, it was inevitable that the top recruit in the state would begin to take over. 

While Mullins remained cold from deep throughout the game, the athleticism from the future UConn Husky showed to be too much for Ertel and the Marauders as Mullins would finish with 34 points to lead the Cougars to a comeback 60-55 win. 

“I knew it was going to be tough to hit a three in this gym,” Mullins said. “It’s always hard to shoot in there, and I think I scored probably 75% of my points off in transition. [In the fourth quarter] we were trying to key more on [Ertel] because we knew he was their [top] scoring option. We were all pretty tired, so we were just trying the best we could to rebound the ball and take away [number] 12. “ 

Now sitting at 9-2, Mullins and the Cougars continue to prove their worth amongst 4A’s top teams.

“[Mt. Vernon] was missing some guys, but I mean [come sectionals] it’s going to be a dog fight,” Meredith said. “This is one of those years that Anderson’s really good, Mt. Vernon is really good, nobody is going to want to draw Pendleton Heights… With games like tonight, hopefully it won’t be too big [of an environment] when we’re in Muncie Fieldhouse in March.”