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Waltonville's Gavin Bassett heads around Mt. Carmel's Shea Smith during first-half action Friday night. Bassett had 15 points in the Spartans' 79-61 road victory. ROBERT L. LIVINGSTON/MT. CARMEL DAILY REPUBLICAN REGISTER
Spartans bag huge road win
Waltonville 79, Mt. Carmel 61
MT. CARMEL — It’s a week early, but Waltonville High School basketball coach Mike DeNault sounded more like a kid on Christmas Day Friday evening after his Spartans racked up an impressive 79-61 road win at Mt. Carmel.
“I am speechless,” DeNault said of his team’s sixth win in seven tries. “We did what we had to do, dive on the floor for loose balls and handle pressure.”
One thing the Spartans did better than anything else Friday on the Hilltop was shoot free throws. Waltonville sank all 13 shots in the second half, and finished the night 24 of 26 at the stripe.
“I knew we could make free throws,” DeNault said, referring to Tuesday’s off-night at the line in a home win against Carlyle.
Skyler Witges set the tone for Friday’s win, scoring 12 of his 20 points as WHS pulled out to a 21-11 lead after one period.
The Golden Aces, who had played defending Indiana state champion Princeton to single-digits Tuesday, never got closer than 12 points the rest of the way.
“We just never turned the ball over,” DeNault said. “Mt. Carmel came out in a 2-2-1 press after every basket and every dead ball. A few times we were too aggressive and maybe drew some charging fouls against us, but we got the early momentum.”
Joseph Lewis, who also scored 20 points, buried two 3-pointers in the third period. Waltonville, which led 38-26 at halftime, slightly stretched the advantage to 57-43 at the third stop.
“We then made our free throws late, and that was it,” DeNault said.
Lewis and Witges both had 20 points, Gavin Bassett 15 and Dylan Johnson 11 for Waltonville. Michael Molstad and Alex Hale both had 15 points for the Aces, Shea Smith adding 10.
Waltonville hosts Hamilton County Tuesday night before heading into the Sesser-Valier Holiday Tournament as the second seed behind the host Red Devils.
“Tuesday night will be another tough test with coach (Curt) Reed’s Foxes,” DeNault said. “But this is a blueprint for a successful season, to play teams like Mt. Carmel and Hamilton County.”
Waltonville 79, Mt. Carmel 61
Waltonville 21 17 19 22—79
Mt.Carmel 11 15 17 18—61
WALTONVILLE (6-1)
Bassett 7 1-2 15, Wheatley 1 4-4 6, Witges 5 8-8 20, Stanhouse 2 3-4 7, Johnson 3 5-5 11, Lewis 7 3-3 20. Totals 25 24-26 79
MT. CARMEL (61)
Bumpus 1 0-2 2, Marcotte 2 0-0 4, Michael Molstad 6 0-0 15; Condol 1 0-0 2, Grant 1 0-2 3, Alex Hale 5 5-6 15, Griffin 1 0-0 2, Carpenter 0 2-2 2, Shea Smith 4 0-0 10, McCarty 1 0-0 2, Cook 2 0-1 4. Totals 24 7-13 61
3-point gioals — Waltonville 5 (Lewis 3, Witges 2), Mt. Carmel 6 (Molstad 3, Smith 2, Grant). Team fouls — Waltonville 14, Mt. Carmel 21. Fouled out — Hale.
Preliminary: Mt. Carmel, 49-35.
— John Roark
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