By Noah Dalton
PAOLI — Mitchell High School’s 2024-25 season came to an end on Friday, as the Bluejackets were defeated in the second round of sectional play by Providence, 68-36.
Mitchell got off to a slow start, allowing the Pioneers to pile it on in the early minutes. By the end of the first quarter, the Bluejackets trailed by a manageable eight points, but that deficit quickly ballooned to 24 by the end of the half, with Mitchell trailing 42-18.
The Bluejackets’ 36 points scored by the final whistle marked the team’s lowest output of the season, coming as Providence scored a season-high 68.
“We started off four or five of our six first possessions we turned the basketball over and that led to us being on our heels and then it was full on catch up the whole entire time,” Mitchell head coach Clint Roesler said of the teams’ difficult start, which saw them scoreless for nearly the first four minutes of the game.
“Against a team like Providence, who is physical and strong and lengthy, it’s hard for us to battle back with that and we dug ourselves too deep of a hole,” he added. “That’s the thing I’m going to look back at. What could we have done to start the game a little bit faster and not dig such a hole? But, it all starts with not turning the basketball over and any stat that you have to win to win a basketball game, we probably lost tonight, unfortunately. That’s a tough one to end on.”
This is also the final game for Mitchell’s six senior players: Austin Mosier, Aiden Pridemore, Tate Woods, Nate Robertson, Carl Chenault and Logan Kender.
Despite ending on a down note, the season was one of the better in program history.
The Bluejackets picked up 17 wins in Roesler’s first year at the helm, the most the school has earned since 1987. According to Roesler, the senior group was key to that success, as well as the future of the program, helping to establish the blueprint for what can be expected in the coming years.
“We want them to remember the fact that they were a part of this team that hopefully is propelling us into the future of where we want to be as a basketball program,” said Roesler. “The seniors hold their heads high that they were the reason that this program got turned around.”
Roesler noted how difficult it would be to say goodbye to this group of players for the offseason, particularly the seniors, who he developed a strong bond with.
“All six of those guys, in one way or another, played just a huge part in our success and they all grew, and the trust was there. Fully, 1,000%, the player-coach trust was there,” he said. “I can’t say enough about those kids. I told them in the locker room, I’m not ready to not go to practice every day. I’m not ready to just go home after school. I just love being around them. And I told them, as pathetic as it is, on Sundays when we don’t have anything going on, I miss them and that speaks a lot to us as a team and us as a group. It’s hard to close this chapter and then start the new one over the next season because I’m going to miss those six a lot.”
Next season, the team will look towards its younger players to step into larger roles, as well as relying on some key contributors who will be returning.
As the season went on, sophomores Malakai Goodman and Kaden Mullis became two of the team’s go-to players off the bench, with both starting in some games as Mitchell had some players forced to sit. Also returning for his senior year will be Gavin Robinson, who was one of the team’s top scorers and will likely be the team’s top-option next season.
“I really like coaching Gavin. He’s a tremendous athlete, tremendous player. He does everything I ask of him. He’s going to be the guy next year, and I know he has plenty of games this year where he was the guy, but he’s going to be a focal point. Kaden, Malakai and Blake [King] probably saw the next majority of the minutes. Those guys have a lot of growing to do, and they’re going to be thrust into the fire and now have huge, prominent roles,” said Roesler.
Roesler said he and the returning group will take some time off before returning for Spring workouts and eventually summer scrimmages, where he and the coaching staff will access the team to try to get a better idea of what things might look like next season.
“We’re going to play a lot of games in June and see where we’re at and get a better read on what we’re going to look like next season because it’s just going to be different, and we’re going to have to attack differently. We’ve got to defend at a really, really high level next year, and I think we have the pieces to definitely do that, we’ve just got to get them up to speed,” said Roesler.
Box Score
Mitchell Stats
Points: 36 | FGM: 12/39 | FG%: 30.77% | 3PM: 3/12 | 3P%: 25.00% | FTM: 9/14 | FT%: 64.29% | Rebounds: 17 | Team Turnovers: 18
Individual Player Stats for Mitchell:
#2 Austin Mosier – Points: 6 | FGM: 2/9 | FG%: 22.22% | 3PM: 2/6 | 3P%: 33.33% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 1
#1 Aiden Pridemore – Points: 7 | FGM: 3/8 | FG%: 37.50% | 3PM: 1/4 | 3P%: 25.00% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 0
#40 Nate Robertson – Points: 7 | FGM: 3/5 | FG%: 60.00% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 1/4 | FT%: 25.00% | Rebounds: 5
#22 Gavin Robinson – Points: 10 | FGM: 1/10 | FG%: 10.00% | 3PM: 0/1 | 3P%: 0.00% | FTM: 8/10 | FT%: 80.00% | Rebounds: 7
#12 Carl Chenault – Points: 0 | FGM: 0/1 | FG%: 0.00% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 1
#4 Malakai Goodman – Points: 0 | FGM: 0/0 | FG%: 0% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 1
#20 Kaden Mullis – Points: 2 | FGM: 1/2 | FG%: 50.00% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 1
#3 Tate Woods – Points: 4 | FGM: 2/4 | FG%: 50.00% | 3PM: 0/1 | 3P%: 0.00% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 1
#21 Garrett Floerke – Points: 0 | FGM: 0/0 | FG%: 0% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 0
#10 Gavin Martin – Points: 0 | FGM: 0/0 | FG%: 0% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 0
#30 Blake King – Points: 0 | FGM: 0/0 | FG%: 0% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 0
#11 Logan Kender – Points: 0 | FGM: 0/0 | FG%: 0% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 0
Providence Stats
Points: 68 | FGM: 20/44 | FG%: 45.45% | 3PM: 5/9 | 3P%: 55.56% | FTM: 19/27 | FT%: 70.37% | Rebounds: 25 | Team Turnovers: 5
Individual Player Stats for Providence:
#1 Preston Kempf – Points: 13 | FGM: 3/4 | FG%: 75.00% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 7/8 | FT%: 87.50% | Rebounds: 2
#13 Elijah Fuller Tucker – Points: 20 | FGM: 8/15 | FG%: 53.33% | 3PM: 0/1 | 3P%: 0.00% | FTM: 4/9 | FT%: 44.44% | Rebounds: 7
#20 Drew Kelly – Points: 3 | FGM: 1/3 | FG%: 33.33% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 1/2 | FT%: 50.00% | Rebounds: 4
#22 Cole Huett – Points: 3 | FGM: 1/3 | FG%: 33.33% | 3PM: 0/2 | 3P%: 0.00% | FTM: 1/2 | FT%: 50.00% | Rebounds: 1
#23 Bryson Whitlock – Points: 2 | FGM: 1/1 | FG%: 100.00% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 1
#0 Cooper Nash – Points: 3 | FGM: 1/1 | FG%: 100.00% | 3PM: 1/1 | 3P%: 100.00% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 3
#11 Duke Beckort – Points: 14 | FGM: 4/10 | FG%: 40.00% | 3PM: 4/5 | 3P%: 80.00% | FTM: 2/2 | FT%: 100.00% | Rebounds: 0
#12 Parker Pennington – Points: 2 | FGM: 1/1 | FG%: 100.00% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 0
#24 Drew Cassis – Points: 0 | FGM: 0/1 | FG%: 0.00% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 0
#25 Lucas Mauk – Points: 0 | FGM: 0/1 | FG%: 0.00% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 3
#35 Noah Leasor – Points: 6 | FGM: 0/1 | FG%: 0.00% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 4/4 | FT%: 100.00% | Rebounds: 4
#50 Max Fisher – Points: 2 | FGM: 0/3 | FG%: 0.00% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 0
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