CAYUGA —
Rockville started fast, clamped down on the defensive end and then spread the court to start the sectional championship celebrattion early on Saturday night at NorthVermillionHigh School.
Rockville’s boys high school basketball team won its third straight Class A Sectional 53 championship with a 51-31 victory over the Covington Trojans.
Now the Class A top-ranked Rox take a 25-0 record into the regional at Frankfort High School next Saturday against Lafayette Central Catholic.
“I’m incredibly proud of this team. They could have lost tonight and it wouldn’t have changed that. To go 25-0 with the schedule we played, to win the Wabash Valley Classic, I never ever expected it. It’s unreal,” Rockville coach Dave Mahurin said.
Lane Mahurin led Rockville with 20 points, six rebounds and two assists, followed by Jordan McFall with 12 points, three steals and two assists.
“[Winning the sectional] this is what we were preparing for the whole season. Every time we got in the locker room at halftime we would re-enforce that the mentally should be we are in the sectional, we down a couple of points and we need to get back to [Indianapolis],” Lane Mahurin said.
Covington (14-8) did not have a player in double figures. Chandler Spring, a 6-2 sophomore, paced the Trojans with nine points.
Rockville jumped out to an 11-2 lead with Mahurin scoring eight points and McFall hitting the first of two 3-point shots.
“I don’t think I ever really relax. There were a couple of times in the game where I thought we let our guard down a little bit. For the most part I don’t have anything to complain about,” Mahurin said.
Sparked by forward James Foley’s two baskets, Covington rallied over the final 2:42 of the first quarter, cutting Rockville’s lead to 13-8 going into the second period.
Covington got within four, 15-11, early in the second quarter, but buckets by Keiontre Wilkey and McFall got the Rox offense going again. McFall drain another three and Nick Waltz turned a Gary Ulrich steal into a three and Rockville pulled away to a 27-15 halftime lead.
Rockville pulled the ball out and spread the court in the third quarter. Covington appeared to be playing a triangle-and-two defense.
“We wanted to try to make [Covington] chase us. They were trying to play a junk defense [the first half] and they were having some success with it. My perception was, why fight it? If they’re not going to guard a couple of guys, let’s put the ball in their hands and let the clock run. I didn’t care if we won by three or 30,” Mahurin said.
With the clock ticking away on Covington’s season, the Rox took a 34-21 lead into fourth quarter.
Rockville kept the ball moving and passed up open shots under the basket.
“Coach wants us to move the ball, reverse the ball and get good looks and get it to our main [scorers] and just run the clock down. We knew we had the lead and we didn’t want to force anything we didn’t have to,” Waltz said.
Two minutes into the final period, Mahurin drove the baseline and put down an emphatic, two-hand slam dunk that triggered a 17-point period and the sectional championship party.
ROCKVILLE (51) — Mahurin 9-13 2-2 20, McFall 3-7 4-4 12, Waltz 2-6 2-2 7, K. Wilkey 3-6 0-1 6, Ulrich 2-7 0-0 5, Brown 0-1 0-0 0, Paddock 0-0 1-2 1, Brown 0-0 0-0 0, Eldridge 0-0 0-0 0, R. Wilkey 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-40 FG, 9-11 FT, 51 TP.
COVINGTON (31) – Ahrens 2-7 2-2 6, Foley 4-5 0-0 8, Wright 0-0 0-0 0, Spring 3-6 0-0 9, Frechette 3-9 1-2 7, Coleman 0-3 0-1 1-2 1, Root 0-0 0-0 0, Fletcher 0-0 0-0 0, Simmons 0-0 0-0 0, Noble 0-0 0-0 0, Hegg 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 12-30 FG, 4-6 FT, 31 TP.
Rockville 13 14 7 17 — 51
Covington 8 7 6 10 — 31
3-point shooting — Rv 4-13 (McFall 2-4, Waltz 1-3, Ulrich 1-5, Brown 0-1), Cov 2-7 (Spring 2-4, Coleman 0-1, Ahrens 0-2). Total fouls — Rv 10, Cov 14. Fouled out — None. Turnovers — Rv 5, Cov 11. Rebounds — Rv 21 (Waltz 8, Mahurin 6), Cov 19 (Foley, Frechette 6). Assists — Rv 7 (Mahurin, McFall, Wilkey 2), Cov 1 (Wright). Steals — 7 (Ulrich, McFall 3), Cov 1 (Frechette 1).
Next — Rockville (25-0) will play Lafayette Central Catholic in the Frankfort Regional on Saturday at 12 p.m. Covington finished the season 14-8.
High School
Rockville improves to 25-0 after dominating Class A North Vermillion Sectional
- High School
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Goatee, Bertoli ran away with Spring Athlete of the Year
When honoring athletes after a season of excellence, the phrase “what might have been” doesn’t usually come up.
But in the case of Terre Haute South’s Jackson Bertoli and Terre Haute North’s TaPring Goatee – the Tribune-Star’s Athletes of the Year for spring sports – there’s an air of unfinished business despite obvious recent successes.
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Post 346 opens tournament with two victories
Preston Tofaute got on base enough to score three runs, Cody Thornton smashed a two-run triple in the first inning and pitcher Pete Lannoo scattered four hits over a seven-inning complete game.
All of that helped Wayne Newton Post 346 down Lafayette Post 11 by a 7-2 score in the opener of the Terre Haute Inviatational tournament for American Legion baseball Thursday afternoon at Terre Haute North High School. -
North boys move up to 13th in golf state finals
Early Wednesday morning, Terre Haute North senior Ryan Baker and coach Abe Nasser headed out to the Legends of Indiana Golf Course for a range session.
Baker wasn’t happy with the 85 he shot in Tuesday’s first round of the IHSAA boys golf state finals.
“He was frustrated,” Nasser said.
Problem solved. Baker bounced back with a 2-over 74 Wednesday, helping the Patriots improve their team score by seven strokes.
The Patriots shot 304 as a team Wednesday, giving them a two-day score of 615, good for 13th place in the 15-team field. -
Big hill to climb for North golf
Terre Haute North boys golf is 21 strokes behind leaders at IHSAA boys golf tourney.
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Top of her game
There are a lot of surprising facts about blossoming volleyball prodigy Caitlyn Newton, including that shape-shifting thing she can apparently do, but maybe one of them stands out the most. She may only be scratching the surface.
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Camp, Howe win, then lose in state tennis tourney
Miranda Camp and Nicole Howe of Terre Haute South won their first match of high school tennis Friday at the state individual doubles finals, then won the first set against a powerful Park Tudor team before falling in three sets.
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Terre Haute North heading back to state finals in boys golf
Terre Haute North is going back to the state finals in boys high school golf for the first time in more than 10 years. The Patriots qualified for a trip to The Legends Course next week by tying for third in the Washington Regional at Country Oaks Golf Club and advancing with the better fifth score.
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North, South, Sullivan to compete at golf regional
Boys high school golf teams from the Wabash Valley will compete in the Washington Regional on Thursday, seeking a spot in the state finals to be played next week.
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Terre Haute North falls 6-1 to Brownsburg in opening game of Class 4A Regional
Terre Haute North coach Shawn Turner told the Patriots to raise their heads. He wanted to see their eyes at the close of their 24-7 high school baseball season.
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Terre Haute North girls shine on dreary day at track state finals
Led by a record setting 3,200-meter relay team and Keirra Porter’s long jump, Terre Haute North turned in its best finish ever in the 40th annual IHSAA Girls Track & Field Championships on Saturday at Indiana University in Bloomington.
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Valley teams will have to wait until Monday for baseball regionals
Rain and the threat of more rain caused postponements of high school baseball regionals involving Terre Haute North, West Vigo and Shakamak on Saturday.
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Rockville's season ends at Lafayette Central Catholic
Lafayette Central Catholic ended Rockville’s tourney run in high school baseball Saturday, defeating the Rox 8-0 in the first game of the LCC Class A Regional.
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IHSAA boys state track finals: Standing alone
It hadn’t been a particularly good day for Wabash Valley track and field Friday, and it wasn’t looking like a good one for Jackson Bertoli either.
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Terre Haute North, West Vigo return to baseball regionals
Terre Haute North’s baseball team hasn’t participated in an IHSAA regional since 2006. West Vigo’s wait hasn’t been as long, but it was 2010 when the Vikings last advanced from a sectional.
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Patriots girls take aim at state track title
Terre Haute North’s girls have several potential state champions today at Indiana University.
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South, North track athletes looking for big performances at state finals
Terre Haute South’s distance trio of Jackson Bertoli, Logan Hambrock and Riley Stohler appear to be the favorites to crack all-state status among Wabash Valley competitors today in the IHSAA boys track and field state finals at Indiana University.
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Internet site keeps area prep teams on airwaves
- PREP ROUNDUP: Locals to take part in Hoosiers All-Star Game
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South Vermillion softball can't overcome errors, Tri-West
Uncharacteristic errors led to eight unearned runs and hard-luck hitting made that impossible to overcome for South Vermillion, which fell 8-0 to Tri-West in Class 3A regional play.
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Clay City softball comes up short against Lutheran
Clay City closed its high school softball season Tuesday night with the best record ever for the program at 21-9.
The Eels wanted to add another win, the school’s first regional title, but they came up short.
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PREP ROUNDUP: Rockville wins baseball sectional
Rockville won its own Class A sectional in high school baseball Tuesday, defeating Covington 10-4 in the rain-delayed championship game.
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Class 4A Terre Haute South Sectional:The wait is over
Three minutes into an interview with various media members, Terre Haute North baseball coach Shawn Turner couldn’t react fast enough to avoid a bucket of ice water being dumped over his head from behind by his giddy players. The soaking-wet Turner could shake it off with a smile, however, because his Patriots had just won the IHSAA Class 4A Terre Haute South Sectional championship with a 13-3 six-inning triumph over Plainfield on Monday evening.
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Class 4A Terre Haute South Sectional: TH North, Plainfield win squeakers
The high school baseball teams of Terre Haute North and Plainfield proved Monday that what a batter does early in the game is not necessarily indicative of what he will do in the late innings.
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Class 2A Linton Sectional: Eastern rains on Sullivan parade
Mother Nature put Sullivan’s quest for a high school baseball sectional championship on hold Monday night at Linton-Stockton High School. Sullivan (14-15) and Eastern Greene (16-7) will resume play in the Class 2A Sectional 47 championship game at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Linton’s Roy Herndon Field.
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Opening Day: Terre Haute Rex host Quincy
In his first season at the helm, first-year Terre Haute Rex manager Ronnie Prettyman is going to be surrounded by men he knows and trusts.
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Class A Shakamak Sectional: Stout pitching leads Union, Shakamak to final
Trey Bedwell and Patrick Green made sure their respective high school baseball teams would meet for the championship of the Class A Shakamak Sectional by pitching shutouts in semifinal contests Monday afternoon.
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Class A Rockville Sectional: Covington, Rockville title game postponed
Rockville and Covington won semifinal high school baseball games Monday to advance to the championship game of the Rockville Class A Sectional. Due to rain, the championship game was postponed. A decision was expected this morning whether the game will be played today or Wednesday.
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South Vermillion, Linton, Clay City look to stay alive in softball
There might have been as many reasons to think they wouldn’t be winning sectionals this spring as evidence to show they would, but high school softball teams from South Vermillion, Linton and Clay City will be playing one-game regionals Tuesday with the chance to keep defying the odds.
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West Vigo back on top of Class 3A baseball sectional
West Vigo won its sectional with a 6-4 victory over South Vermillion on a rainy night at Dick Ballinger Field.
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South runs into ‘buzzsaw’ at girls tennis semistate
Postmatch interviews don’t often begin with a coach and a reporter ready to blurt out the same word, but that was the case for Bill Blankenbaker and his interviewer Saturday morning after the Center Grove Semistate for girls high school tennis.
Unfortunately for Blankenbaker’s Terre Haute South team, that word was “buzzsaw.”
Greenwood’s Kawamoto twins made quick work of the top of the Braves’ singles lineup, so despite stellar efforts by both South doubles teams the Woodmen’s 3-2 victory didn’t seem all that close.
Greenwood moves on to Fishers, where it plays Floyd Central or Jasper on Friday in the state quarterfinals.
Also playing Friday, but at Park Tudor, will be South’s Miranda Camp and Nicole Howe, who reached the individual doubles finals for the second straight season by virtue of their 6-4, 6-2 win over the Greenwood team of Taylor Hudnall and Brittany Toney.
“It’s really exciting,” said Howe of the prospect of a second straight finals trip, “but I wish our team could’ve gone with us.”
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