Clinton — Andy Walsh had been busy quarterbacking the South Vermillion football team to a record-setting season, and Wednesday night he led the Wildcats’ basketball team to a 61-46 season-opening victory over the visiting Clay City Eels.
Walsh scored 24 points and grabbed six rebounds.
“Andy is a good athlete. Good football player, good basketball player, he’s just a tremendous athlete,” third-year South Vermillion coach Rodney Idlewine said.
Patrick Harpeneau added 12 points and eight rebounds, and Cody Mumaw had 11 points.
Clay City was led by D.J. Newton with 12 points and Tyler Bridgewater with 10.
It was a match between two programs at different junctures. South Vermillion is loaded with returning starters like Walsh, Harpenau and Mumaw, while Clay City has a new coach and only two returnees from last year’s sectional championship team.
Coach Vance Edmondson, who had been an assistant at Terre Haute South, was happy with the opening night for his Eels.
“Offensively I was pretty happy with the way we played tonight. There were times when we took some ill-advised shots, forced some things. But give South Vermillion credit, they’re a good solid team,” Edmondson said.
South Vermillion, starting the 6-3 Walsh, 6-3 Harpenau and 6-3 Jerrett Hastings, dominated the rebounding 39-16. Hastings had six boards to go with Harpenau’s eight and Walsh’s six.
“We knew coming in they were a big, physical, strong team. We talked about being strong mentally and physically and rebound, because we knew [with] them coming right out of football season and having the success they did [in football] that they were going to be aggressive on the board and on the inside. And they used their size and it hurt us a lot,” Edmondson said.
South Vermillion led 23-18 after the opening quarter of the season, as Walsh scored 12 points. While the Wildcats hit 10-14 shots from the floor, the Eels stayed close with 7-11 shooting.
But in the second quarter, South Vermillion’s man-to-man defense gave Clay City trouble. The Eels hit just 2-8 shots and the Wildcats pulled away from a 38-27 halftime lead on 6-11 shooting.
The Wildcats extended their lead to 17 points, 49-32, in the third quarter and continued to pull out to a 21-point advantage in the final period.
CLAY CITY (46) — Higgins 2-9 3-7 7, Bridgewater 4-8 1-2 10, Newton 4-6 0-0 12, Denker 1-8 0-0 2, Moore 3-6 1-2 8, Decker 1-1 0-0 2, Jenkins 2-6 0-0 5, Tiefel 0-0 0-0 0, Johnson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-44 FG, 5-11 FT, 46 TP.
SOUTH VERMILLION (61) — Walsh 8-11 7-10 24, Harpeneau 6-9 0-0 12, Hastings 0-1 0-0 0, Laswell 2-4 0-1 5, Mumaw 4-8 0-0 11, Craigmyle 2-2 1-4 5, Reyher 2-3 0-0 4, Scott 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 24-41 FG, 8-15 FT, 61 TP.
Clay City 18 9 5 14 — 46
South Vermillion 23 15 11 12 — 61
3-point goals — CC 7-15 (Newton 4-6, Moore 1-1, Jenkins 1-3, Bridgewater 1-4, Denker 0-1), SV 5-11 (Mumaw 3-6, Laswell 1-2, Walsh 1-2, Reyher 0-1). Total fouls — CC 14, SV 14. Fouled out: None. Turnovers — CC 14, SV 18. Rebounds — CC 16 (Higgins 6), SV 39 (Harpenau 8, Laswell 7). Steals — CC 7 (Higgins, Moore 3), SV 6 (Reyher 3).
JV — South Vermillion won 37-26.
Next — On Dec. 4, South Vermillion (1-0, 0-0 in WIC) plays at West Vigo, and Clay City (0-1) will be host to Union.
High School
South Vermillion boys basketball’s strength too much for Clay City
- High School
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THN SECTIONAL: Braves to play Mooresville for sectional title tonight
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OWEN VALLEY SECTIONAL: Eagles bring Vikes down to earth
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South swimmers don’t advance at Finals
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South runs into talented North Central team
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O'Leary pours in career-high 34 for Terre Haute North
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Davis hits layup in double overtime to lift Terre Haute North at Bloomington North
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Sullivan stays on top of WIC for third straight year
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South girls looking for solid performances at swimming state finals
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PREP ROUNDUP: Cesinger, Jones each score 24 in Clay City win
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Teutopolis knocks off record-setting Marshall girls in regional championship
Marshall jumped ahead 4-0 only to watch Teutopolis score the next 11 points Thursday in the championship game of the Class 2A Teutopolis Regional.
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Sullivan wins battle in low post
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State wrestling berths won't come easily
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South pulls upset
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Vikings break long sectional drought
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PREP ROUNDUP: RP rolls past Attica
Riverton Parke jumped to a 20-point halftime lead and easily defeated Attica 59-34 in the Class A North Vermillion girls basketball sectional on Tuesday.
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They’re the pride of Marshall
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Union season more fun with Talpas around
The Union boys basketball team has had its share of fun moments in the past, arguably the most fun being its Class A state runner-up in 2000.
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Injury bug follows girls into postseason
Who’s healthy is the question at least three of the four teams will be asking tonight when Class 4A girls high school basketball sectional play begins at Terre Haute North.
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Rockville needs late run to stop West Vigo
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Northview holds off Plainfield
Northview got its sixth victory in boys high school basketball action Saturday night, defeating Plainfield 59-56.
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PREP ROUNDUP: Cloverdale helps Rady to career win No. 714
Brandon Dorman and Joe Fidler combined for 37 points and six 3-pointers Saturday night as visiting Cloverdale defeated Turkey Run 63-45 in boys high school basketball.
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North seniors enjoy hot start
The appearance of balanced scoring in the Terre Haute North High School basketball lineup Saturday night was a little bit deceiving as the Patriots held on to defeat visiting Evansville Reitz 62-48 in North’s Senior Night contest.
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Ben Davis Giants top South Braves
Visiting Ben Davis nearly went to sleep on a sizeable lead against Terre Haute South in Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference high school basketball Friday night.
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No. 3 Panthers too much for Patriots
After trailing by 15 at halftime, Terre Haute North’s boys basketball team got off to a nice start in the second half and cut its deficit to seven against Class 4A No. 3 Indianapolis North Central.
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Clay City gives Shakamak first SWIAC loss
Clay City shook up the top echelon of the SouthWestern Indiana Athletic Conference with a solid 52-41 victory Friday over visiting Shakamak in a boys high school basketball game at the Eel Dome.
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Regional wrestlers know importance of opening-round matches
Eight in each weight class. Four of those advance to the semistate. No byes.
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PREP ROUNDUP: Mahurin leads Rox to victory
Lane Mahurin tallied 10 of his game-high 29 points in the fourth quarter to help Rockville hold off Wabash River Conference foe Fountain Central 80-72 in boys high school basketball Friday night.
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