Basketball Recap: Mason Miller's Big Game Can't Quite Lead New Castle over Mt. Vernon

New Castle lost against Mt. Vernon back in December of 2023 and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Friday. The New Castle Trojans took a hard 57-39 fall against the Mt. Vernon Marauders. While losing is never fun, the Trojans can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 142nd, while the Marauders are ranked ninth).

New Castle's loss came despite a true team effort from the offense, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Mason Miller, who posted 17 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Landon Thompson, who scored eight points and seven boards.

Mt. Vernon was led to victory by Luke Ertel and Max Vise. Ertel went 8 for 13 en route to 24 points and six rebounds, while Vise went 5 of 7 on his way to 14 points. That makes it six consecutive games in which Ertel has scored at least a third of Mt. Vernon's points. Another player making a difference was Tanner Teschendorf, who put up six points.

Trojans

Previous 5 Games

01/31/25 @ Mt. Vernon	39-57
01/25/25 vs Wapahani	64-55
01/24/25 @ Yorktown	51-42
01/18/25 vs Rushville	39-20
01/17/25 vs Greenfield-Central	50-72

New Castle moved to 7-9 with that defeat, which also ended their three-game winning streak. As for Mt. Vernon, the win was the third in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 11-3.

New Castle didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next contest, a 65-58 victory against Monroe Central on the 1st. Mt. Vernon has also already played their next match, a 59-37 win against Harrison on the 1st.