The Southmont Mounties struggled with assists on Saturday (the Crawfordsville Athenians had seven more) and sadly the final score reflected it. Southmont opened the new year with a less-than-successful 53-44 defeat to Crawfordsville. Southmont lost against Crawfordsville in their previous head to head back in January of 2023, too, but the margin this time around was much wider than the 47-39 score last time.
When it comes to explaining why Southmont lost, one person who can't be blamed is Hayden Hess. Despite the final result, he scored 23 points along with seven rebounds and four steals. Those 23 points set a new season-high mark for him. The team also got some help courtesy of Lucas Oppy, who scored six points.
Ethan McLemore continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines for Crawfordsville, scoring 21 points along with six assists. McLemore hasn't dropped below two steals for eight straight games. Mason McCarty was another key contributor, scoring seven points.
Southmont's loss was their third straight on the road, which bumped their record down to 4-4. As for Crawfordsville, the win makes it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 6-4.
Both squads will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Southmont will take on Seeger at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Hopefully Seeger focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 17 on Saturday. Crawfordsville and Fountain Central will face off at 7:30 p.m. on January 19th without much rest after finishing up games yesterday.
