Preview: Southmont Mounties vs. South Vermillion Wildcats
Southmont has been on the road for two straight, but on Friday they'll finally head home. They will be home for the holidays to greet the South Vermillion Wildcats at 7:30 p.m. Southmont will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Indiana Rankings (they are ranked 319th, while South Vermillion is ranked 48th).
Last Friday, Southmont came up short against Western Boone and fell 58-45.
Defeat or not, Southmont got some senior leadership from Carter Hubble who scored 17 points along with nine rebounds and Hayden Hess who scored ten points along with seven rebounds and seven steals. That's the first time this season that Hubble scored 15 or more points.
Even though they lost, Southmont were smashing the offensive glass and finished the game with 19 offensive rebounds. That's the most offensive rebounds they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, South Vermillion waltzed into their matchup Saturday with two straight wins but they left with three. It was close, but they ultimately received the gift of a 54-52 win from a begrudging Wildcatssquad. Despite the win, that was the fewest points they have scored all year.
South Vermillion's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Brayson Shoults, who dropped a double-double on 12 points and ten rebounds. The contest was Shoults' sixth in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Luke Bush, who scored 11 points along with five assists and four steals.
Southmont now has a losing record at 2-3. As for South Vermillion, their victory bumped their record up to 5-1.
Friday's matchup is shaping up to be a masterclass in shooting: Southmont have been dynamite from deep this season, having only made 36.2% of their threes per game. However, it's not like South Vermillion struggles in that department as they've drained 42.8% of their threes per game this season. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Southmont was able to grind out a solid victory over South Vermillion when the teams last played back in February, winning 71-63. Will Southmont repeat their success, or does South Vermillion have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
