By Noah Dalton
MITCHELL – Mitchell High School picked up their fourth Patoka Lake Athletic Conference win of the season on Friday, beating Perry Central 63-45.
The Bluejackets were led to the victory thanks to a huge night from senior Austin Mosier, who netted a career-high 32 points in the win. Mosier’s huge night was also an efficient one, shooting 67% from the floor, knocking down six threes.
Mosier scored 17 in the second half, including knocking down each of his last six attempts, five of which were from beyond the arc, to help Mitchell pull away in what was a close game early on.
After starting the game up 8-0, holding the Commodores scoreless for much of the first quarter, the Bluejackets started to slip up in the second, allowing for a Perry Central comeback that saw them take a 28-27 lead early in the third.
Facing their first deficit of the evening, Mitchell began to find their rhythm, eventually going on to outscore the Commodores 19-6 to close the period.
Perry Central’s Wick Craney was the team’s biggest contributor to their second quarter surge, scoring 11 to help the team storm back. Coming out of the locker room after halftime, shutting him down was a point of emphasis for the Bluejackets, according to head coach Clint Roesler.
In the second half, Craney was held to seven points on 11 attempts, helping Mitchell to pull away with the win.
“We talked at halftime about just trying to make sure we contained a little bit better. We came out with the exact same intensity that we started the game with in the third quarter, which helped us grow that lead a little bit,” he said.
“We talked in the locker room before the game about how [Perry Central] is a team, no matter if they’re down or up or whatever, they’re going to play hard the entire game. They’re not going to stop. They’re going to keep coming at you. We were able to withstand any run they had, and we matched it or added to our runs. I’m just super proud of this program.”
With two of the team’s starters, Gavin Robinson and Carl Chenault, playing limited minutes as they dealt with an illness, Roesler turned to sophomore Kaden Mullis to help fill in.
Mullis, who has seen limited minutes for the team thus far this season, joined the starting lineup, finishing with eight points and providing the Bluejackets with plenty of energy on the defensive end, tasked with the assignment of guarding Craney, who is the Commodores’ leading scorer this season.
“I told Kaden that he was starting yesterday, and he’s not a kid that is as confident as he should be. When I told Kaden that he was starting on their leading scorer (Craney), who’s one of the top players in our conference, I said, ‘hey man, I’ve got all the confidence in the world in you.’ He just looked at me and said, coach, what are you talking about?,” Roesler said.
“He took the challenge head on tonight on both ends of the floor. He’s not a kid that’s super confident in his offense, but he did the little things he needed to do.”
This is Mitchell’s third win in a row, coming off a string of losses in recent weeks.
Their last loss, which came at the hands of South Central, was a turning point for the team, according to Roesler, serving as a catalyst for the team’s recent run.
“We talked about after the loss to South Central, which was a tough one, and we talked about how there’s a tough stretch in every single season. You can either let it snowball for the rest of the year, or we can turn the corner, figure out what we were doing wrong, and fix it,” he said.
“I’m in hopes, and this was a really good sign for sure, that we’re righting the ship and we’re going the direction we want to go for the end of this season. We just need to build the consistency to be able to finish the year exactly like this game, no let downs.”
Box Score
Mitchell Stats
Points: 63 | FGM: 26/51 | FG%: 50.98% | 3PM: 7/16 | 3P%: 43.75% | FTM: 4/7 | FT%: 57.14% | Rebounds: 27 | Team Turnovers: 13
Individual Player Stats for Mitchell:
#40 Nate Robertson – Points: 14 | FGM: 6/9 | FG%: 66.67% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 2/5 | FT%: 40.00% | Rebounds: 6
#12 Carl Chenault – Points: 0 | FGM: 0/3 | FG%: 0.00% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 0
#2 Austin Mosier – Points: 32 | FGM: 12/18 | FG%: 66.67% | 3PM: 6/10 | 3P%: 60.00% | FTM: 2/2 | FT%: 100.00% | Rebounds: 4
#1 Aiden Pridemore – Points: 7 | FGM: 3/10 | FG%: 30.00% | 3PM: 1/6 | 3P%: 16.67% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 2
#22 Gavin Robinson – Points: 0 | FGM: 0/4 | FG%: 0.00% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 5
#4 Malakai Goodman – Points: 2 | FGM: 1/2 | FG%: 50.00% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 4
#20 Kaden Mullis – Points: 8 | FGM: 4/5 | FG%: 80.00% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 6
Perry Central Stats
Points: 45 | FGM: 20/46 | FG%: 43.48% | 3PM: 1/12 | 3P%: 8.33% | FTM: 3/5 | FT%: 60.00% | Rebounds: 16 | Team Turnovers: 18
Individual Player Stats for Perry Central:
#10 Thomas Hogan – Points: 2 | FGM: 1/5 | FG%: 20.00% | 3PM: 0/4 | 3P%: 0.00% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 0
#22 Caden James – Points: 4 | FGM: 2/3 | FG%: 66.67% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 2
#24 Wick Craney – Points: 20 | FGM: 9/23 | FG%: 39.13% | 3PM: 1/4 | 3P%: 25.00% | FTM: 1/1 | FT%: 100.00% | Rebounds: 8
#30 Cole Yeager – Points: 0 | FGM: 0/0 | FG%: 0% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 2/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 0
#40 Cohen Edwards – Points: 8 | FGM: 3/4 | FG%: 75.00% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 0/4 | FT%: 0.00% | Rebounds: 2
#12 Gage Clark – Points: 4 | FGM: 2/4 | FG%: 50.00% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 1
#32 Zac Mitchell – Points: 4 | FGM: 2/2 | FG%: 100.00% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 3
#34 Reese Litherland – Points: 3 | FGM: 1/5 | FG%: 20.00% | 3PM: 0/4 | 3P%: 0.00% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 0
