
By Noah Dalton
ORLEANS — After a 2-0 start in Patoka Lake Athletic Conference play this season, Mitchell High School took the court on Wednesday night looking to maintain their spot atop the conference against Orleans, the #3 ranked 1A team in the state and another team yet to lose in PLAC play.
After a back and forth start to the matchup, that saw the two sides trading baskets early, the Bulldogs were the ones who emerged victorious, besting the Bluejackets 62-40.
Hoisting them to the win was senior guard Rylan Crocker, who scored 31 points on the night, including a huge second quarter run where he rattled off 14-straight to help keep the team afloat amidst an otherwise quiet run from the team.
Orleans brought a three-point advantage into the second quarter, up 13-10, at which point Crocker took over.
He knocked down a tough step-back three, then a three-point play, nailing a jumper as he was fouled and hitting the ensuing free-throw.

He scored again, getting to the basket for an easy finish, before the Bluejackets found a couple of consecutive baskets of their own, those being layups from Austin Mosier and Aiden Pridemore, which brought it back to a three-point game, 23-20.
Once again though, it was Crocker who found the bottom of the net to extend the Bulldogs’ lead, hitting back-to-back threes.
He finished the first half with 20 points, including scoring all but four of his team’s points in the second quarter.
“Credit to him, he had a heck of a game,” Mitchell coach Clint Roesler said regarding Crocker’s big night.
“I really think we defended pretty well in the first half and he just hit some tough shots. There’s not a lot of kids around that are going to be able to do that. We talked yesterday about, if guys like him or [Bryce] Jones get going, the basket goes from the size that it is to an ocean. It’s like throwing it in the ocean, and you can’t miss and that’s exactly what happened for him.”

The game began to snowball further in the Bulldogs’ favor in the third, with them finishing the quarter leading by double digits on their way to eventually winning by a 22-point margin.
It was a lower scoring outing for the Bluejackets, with the 40 points scored in this matchup serving as their lowest total of the season to this point.
“I thought we followed our defensive plan pretty well to start the game. And the offensive game plan, I thought there were a lot of opportunities that we wanted to take advantage of them defensively. I knew how they were going to guard the pick and roll was going to leave some opportunities to either hit Nate [Robertson] or attack the big that’s going to switch onto us, and, unfortunately, we missed a few to start the game,” Roesler said.
“We hadn’t played for a while, but no excuses on that part. I’m not an excuse guy.”

Crocker was the high scorer for the night with 31 points. The Bulldogs had one other player in double figures, Alex DeWitt, who scored 10.
Gavin Robinson was the leading scorer for Mitchell, with 13 points. Behind him were Aiden Pridemore, who scored 10 and Austin Mosier, who added eight points.
Mitchell won’t have much time to dwell on this loss, as they’re tasked with another tough matchup just a few days later, with the team making the short trip to Bedford to take on the Stars.
The county rivalry has long been one in Bedford’s control, as they’ve won 38 straight games against the Bluejackets and 49 out of the last 50 meetings between the two squads, with the Bluejackets last win over the Stars coming in 1986.

Roesler noted one of the keys to the game for Mitchell will be containing BNL’s standout scorer Patric Matson, who is averaging 21 PPG on the year.
“He’s a heck of a talent, and he’s a good player, similar to the Crocker kid. If he gets going, it’s going to be a tough night for us as well. And we have to be able to defend. They’ve got guys that can shoot the ball really well. When he’s attacking, he can kick out, and they can knock down shots. We can’t overhelp. It’s going to be a tough opponent. We’re at their place, and it’s going to be an emotional game,” he said.
“We’ve got to be able to hold our emotions a little bit better. I think from game one to now, we’re maturing emotionally, but we still got a ways to go with that. When things aren’t going our way, we tend to struggle holding it together, and we’ve got to continue to work because it’s going to be an emotional game, and it means a lot to a lot of the kids, all of the kids.”
Box Score
Mitchell Stats
Points: 40 | FGM: 15/34 | FG%: 44.12% | 3PM: 2/12 | 3P%: 16.67% | FTM: 8/16 | FT%: 50.00% | Rebounds: 23 | Team Turnovers: 12
Individual Player Stats for Mitchell:
#40 Nate Robertson – Points: 5 | FGM: 2/2 | FG%: 100.00% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 1/6 | FT%: 16.67% | Rebounds: 5
#12 Carl Chenault – Points: 2 | FGM: 1/2 | FG%: 50.00% | 3PM: 0/1 | 3P%: 0.00% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 3
#2 Austin Mosier – Points: 8 | FGM: 2/9 | FG%: 22.22% | 3PM: 1/5 | 3P%: 20.00% | FTM: 3/4 | FT%: 75.00% | Rebounds: 4
#1 Aiden Pridemore – Points: 10 | FGM: 4/9 | FG%: 44.44% | 3PM: 1/5 | 3P%: 20.00% | FTM: 1/2 | FT%: 50.00% | Rebounds: 2
#3 Tate Woods – Points: 2 | FGM: 1/3 | FG%: 33.33% | 3PM: 0/1 | 3P%: 0.00% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 0
#22 Gavin Robinson – Points: 13 | FGM: 5/9 | FG%: 55.56% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 3/4 | FT%: 75.00% | Rebounds: 9
Orleans Stats
Points: 62 | FGM: 22/55 | FG%: 40.00% | 3PM: 7/21 | 3P%: 33.33% | FTM: 5/9 | FT%: 55.56% | Rebounds: 26 | Team Turnovers: 3
Individual Player Stats for Orleans:
#10 Rylan Crocker – Points: 31 | FGM: 11/21 | FG%: 52.38% | 3PM: 7/15 | 3P%: 46.67% | FTM: 2/3 | FT%: 66.67% | Rebounds: 3
#11 Nolan Robbins – Points: 2 | FGM: 1/3 | FG%: 33.33% | 3PM: 0/1 | 3P%: 0.00% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 0
#14 Bryce Jones – Points: 7 | FGM: 3/10 | FG%: 30.00% | 3PM: 0/1 | 3P%: 0.00% | FTM: 1/2 | FT%: 50.00% | Rebounds: 4
#15 Nate Brown – Points: 2 | FGM: 1/3 | FG%: 33.33% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 4
#23 Alex DeWitt – Points: 10 | FGM: 4/10 | FG%: 40.00% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 2/4 | FT%: 50.00% | Rebounds: 8
#3 Kagan Russell – Points: 2 | FGM: 1/3 | FG%: 33.33% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 2
#4 Dane Freed – Points: 0 | FGM: 0/1 | FG%: 0.00% | 3PM: 0/1 | 3P%: 0.00% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 0
#12 Jimmy Sanders – Points: 2 | FGM: 1/1 | FG%: 100.00% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 1
#25 Mason Freed – Points: 6 | FGM: 0/3 | FG%: 0.00% | 3PM: 0/3 | 3P%: 0.00% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 4