By Noah Dalton
MITCHELL — Mitchell High School extended their season-long winning streak to six games on Saturday, defeating Brown County 48-41.
This win comes on the heels of a narrow double overtime victory the previous night against Loogootee.
Tested on back-to-back nights in similar games, the Bluejackets managed to emerge with the win both times, though Saturday’s game required a different kind of resilience.
Both games were slow paced and low scoring compared to many of Mitchell’s other triumphs this season, where the team has averaged nearly 64 points across their previous winning efforts.
That was by design for both of the opposing schools they faced over the weekend in Brown County and Loogootee, who looked to limit the Bluejackets’ pace and particularly their ability to score in transition.
On Friday, the team required some intense defensive efforts late to help get them back on track, forcing turnovers to create additional opportunities. It also helped to have some clutch shot making from senior Austin Mosier, who knocked down shots at the end of regulation and the first overtime period to keep the game going.
Against the Eagles on Saturday, those shots were not falling for Mitchell late in the game, or for most of the night, with the Bluejackets shooting just 34% from the floor and a rough 17% from beyond the arc.
Instead, Mitchell had to find another way to get the job done and this time it was from the free throw line.
The Bluejackets shot 17/23 from the stripe, with 16 of those attempts coming in the fourth quarter.
That effort was led by Gavin Robinson, who scored 20 points to lead all scorers for the night, with 14 of those points coming from the free throw line (14/17).
Free throw shooting has been a point of emphasis for head coach Clint Roesler and Mitchell all season, as the team prepares for postseason play, where each possession and potential point will matter and Saturday’s game was the best showcase of that work thus far.
“Especially going into tournament time, we have to be able to finish possessions. We just have to. It becomes a possession game where we have to be able to convert on all the easy ones,” said Roesler. “We have to be able to convert at the free-throw line and we’re getting better at it. We still have room to improve, but that’s probably just the coach in me that just wants us to be perfect.”
Prior to the late game free throw shooting, it was a close battle between the two sides, though Brown County controlled much of the early goings.
The Eagles went up nine during the second quarter, with Mitchell held without a point for much of the period. Near the halftime buzzer, the Bluejackets began to make a push, scoring seven unanswered points to reduce the lead to two points, before Brown County closed the half strong with a 6-0 run of their own.
Mitchell came sprinting out of the gates in the third, evening up the score after an early run before a layup from Carl Chenault eventually gave them their first lead of the night at 26-24 midway through the quarter.
From that point on, the Bluejackets led for the remainder of the game, though the Eagles continued to keep things tight, never letting the advantage go beyond five points until nearly the end of the game.
Aside from the team’s late-game free throw shooting, Mitchell’s defense in the second half made a big difference, forcing 13 turnovers compared to only four in the first two quarters.
Those turnovers were able to help generate easier looks for the Bluejackets around the basket on fastbreaks, something that proved to be helpful on a night where the team struggled to knock down jumpers.
“We had a lot of frustrations in the first half just because of what was going on. Doing our best to throw guys in there to apply some pressure and get up and try to force some turnovers,” said Roesler. “That was the theme in the locker room. We’ve just got to be able to get more stops. We’ve got to be able to get consistent stops.”
Next on the schedule for the Bluejackets is perhaps the biggest game of their regular season, certainly the most important of the few matchups remaining on the schedule.
They’ll travel to Paoli on Tuesday to take on the Rams, the #11 ranked team in Indiana’s 2A division and the unbeaten leader of the Patoka Lake Athletic Conference.
In the PLAC standings, Paoli sits on top ahead of Mitchell and Orleans, who are tied for second place with just one loss. With a win over the Rams, the Bluejackets would force a three-way tie between the two schools, gaining themselves a share of the conference championship.
The matchup was originally set for Jan. 10, but was delayed due to heavy snow at the time.
Thirty-nine days later, Mitchell will enter the game looking for the program’s first PLAC championship since the 2008-09 season.
“They play a pressure style. They’re going to be up and they’re going to probably try to take away Austin (Mosier). They’re going to have a defensive game plan that’s pretty solid. They’re scrappy, they’re constantly coming at you and they’ve got guys that play hard the entire time and if we take a play off it’s going to be tough to come back from that,” Roesler said of the matchup.
“I look forward to the challenge. I think our guys are up for it. I’d rather play them right now than where we were back then, because we’re much better than we were a month and a half ago.”
Box Score
Mitchell Stats
Points: 48 | FGM: 13/38 | FG%: 34.21% | 3PM: 3/17 | 3P%: 17.65% | FTM: 17/23 | FT%: 73.91% | Rebounds: 20 | Team Turnovers: 12
Individual Player Stats for Mitchell:
#40 Nate Robertson – Points: 7 | FGM: 2/5 | FG%: 40.00% | 3PM: 0/1 | 3P%: 0.00% | FTM: 1/2 | FT%: 50.00% | Rebounds: 5
#12 Carl Chenault – Points: 4 | FGM: 2/3 | FG%: 66.67% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 3
#2 Austin Mosier – Points: 8 | FGM: 3/12 | FG%: 25.00% | 3PM: 2/11 | 3P%: 18.18% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 4
#1 Aiden Pridemore – Points: 7 | FGM: 2/3 | FG%: 66.67% | 3PM: 1/2 | 3P%: 50.00% | FTM: 2/4 | FT%: 50.00% | Rebounds: 1
#3 Tate Woods – Points: 2 | FGM: 1/5 | FG%: 20.00% | 3PM: 0/1 | 3P%: 0.00% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 1
#22 Gavin Robinson – Points: 20 | FGM: 3/10 | FG%: 30.00% | 3PM: 0/2 | 3P%: 0.00% | FTM: 14/17 | FT%: 82.35% | Rebounds: 6
#4 Malakai Goodman – Points: | FGM: / | FG%: 0% | 3PM: / | 3P%: 0% | FTM: / | FT%: 0% | Rebounds:
#20 Kaden Mullis – Points: | FGM: / | FG%: 0% | 3PM: / | 3P%: 0% | FTM: / | FT%: 0% | Rebounds:
Brown County Stats
Points: 41 | FGM: 16/33 | FG%: 48.48% | 3PM: 6/12 | 3P%: 50.00% | FTM: 3/5 | FT%: 60.00% | Rebounds: 15 | Team Turnovers: 17
Individual Player Stats for Brown County:
#1 AJ Bell – Points: 3 | FGM: 1/3 | FG%: 33.33% | 3PM: 0/1 | 3P%: 0.00% | FTM: 1/1 | FT%: 100.00% | Rebounds: 3
#3 Eli Harden – Points: 4 | FGM: 2/3 | FG%: 66.67% | 3PM: 0/1 | 3P%: 0.00% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 2
#22 Noah Lewis – Points: 3 | FGM: 1/3 | FG%: 33.33% | 3PM: 1/3 | 3P%: 33.33% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 3
#24 Jessie Hubbard – Points: 2 | FGM: 1/3 | FG%: 33.33% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 1
#34 Cash Harden – Points: 14 | FGM: 5/10 | FG%: 50.00% | 3PM: 4/6 | 3P%: 66.67% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 3
#15 Quentin Bell – Points: 15 | FGM: 6/10 | FG%: 60.00% | 3PM: 1/1 | 3P%: 100.00% | FTM: 2/4 | FT%: 50.00% | Rebounds: 2
#32 Billy Hubbard – Points: 0 | FGM: 0/1 | FG%: 0.00% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 1
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