News From Terre Haute, Indiana

Sports

Related Photos

  • Started off with a block: Rockville's Lane Mahurin blocks a shot attempt by Robinson's Derrick Nicholas in the first quarter of action Monday in the championship game of the Pizza Hut Wabash Valley Classic at Terre Haute South. At right is Rockville's Jordon McFall. (Tribune-Star/Joseph C. Garza)

    SPT 123112 MAHURIN BLOCK.jpg

  • Tribune-Star/Joseph C. Garza Feels good: Rockville's Jordon McFall holds the Pizza Hut Wabash Valley Classic Champions trophy as he and his fellow Rox pose for photos after the team won the championship game Monday at Terre Haute South.

    SPT 123112 MCFALL TROPHY.jpg

  • Tribune-Star/Joseph C. Garza Physical final: Rockville's Lane Mahurin (1) and Robinson's Michael Akande collide in mid-air for the ball during the championship game of the Pizza Hut Wabash Valley Classic Monday at Terre Haute South.

    SPT 123112 MAHURIN REBOUND.jpg

  • Tribune-Star/Joseph C. Garza One for the scrapbooks: Members of the Rockville boys basketball team pose for a photo after the team won the championship game of the Pizza Hut Wabash Valley Classic Monday at Terre Haute South.

    SPT 123112 PIZZA ROX.jpg

  • Tribune-Star/Joseph C. Garza Like this: Robinson coach Mack Thompson, right, raises hands to mimic proper defense as Rockville's Jordon McFall takes a shot over the Maroons' Michael Akande during the championship game of the Pizza Hut Wabash Valley Classic Monday at Terre Haute South.

    SPT 123112 THOMPSON HANDS.jpg

  • Tribune-Star/Joseph C. Garza Way to go, bro: Rockville's Lane Mahurin receives a hug from his older brother, RJ Mahurin, after the Rox defeated Robinson in the championship game of the Pizza Hut Wabash Valley Classic Monday at Terre Haute South.

    SPT 123112 MAHURINS HUG.jpg

  • Tribune-Star/Joseph C. Garza Backed by the community: The Rockville bench comes to its feet along with fans and members of the community in the final minute of the Rox' win over Robinson in the championship game of the Pizza Hut Wabash Valley Classic Monday at Terre Haute South.

    SPT 123112 ROCKVILLE 01FAN.jpg

Discussion

Welcome to our online comments feature. We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including unpopular ones. We ask only that you keep the conversation civil and clean. We reserve the right to remove comments that are obscene, racist or abusive and statements that are false or unverifiable as well as posts that are attacking other users. Repeat offenders will be blocked. You may flag objectionable comments for review by a moderator.
comments powered by Disqus
January 1, 2013

ROX ROLL: Rockville powers way to Wabash Valley Pizza Hut Classic title

Andy Amey The Tribune-Star

TERRE HAUTE — Conventional wisdom wasn’t much good from a prediction standpoint Monday night at Terre Haute South, where Rockville held off Robinson 44-39 in boys high school basketball for the championship of the Pizza Hut Wabash Valley Classic.

The unbeaten Rox bolted to a big lead early by dominating the backboards, the area where conventional wisdom said the stronger, bulkier Maroons would rule, and Robinson showed its defensive chops to get back into the game, although Rockville entered the contest with the better defensive reputation.

But Rockville never completely buckled under the Robinson pressure — spreading the court, controlling the tempo, shooting the occasional layup and protecting its lead for dear life.

“It was a tough game,” said Rockville star Lane Mahurin afterward. “Both coaches had extremely good game plans, and both teams were well poised and very good sports, I thought … I’m happy for my dad [Rockville coach Dave Mahurin]; after years of coaching, we finally got him a championship.”

The Rox couldn’t have played much better than they did for the first six minutes of the game, and the key was a recent re-addition to the Rockville starting lineup.

Senior Joel Wittenmyer, unavailable for Rockville’s first several games, got offensive rebounds to set up Rockville’s first three baskets — scoring two, assisting on the third — and before the quarter was over he had six points, four rebounds, three steals and two assists. That was four more rebounds than the Maroons had at that point.

“Probably the best quarter I’ve ever had,” Wittenmyer said later.

“We talked about how important rebounding would be, and about stopping [Robinson’s] leading scorer [Aaron Siler], and I thought we did a good job at both,” coach Mahurin said. “When Wittenmyer starts, we put him in the post because other teams usually guard him with a smaller player; that causes matchup problems because our bigs are good off the dribble [outside] and because of his strength in the post.”

Robinson’s first two rebounds of the game came early in the second quarter, and nearly cost the Rox their first-quarter sparkplug. Wittenmyer took an inadvertant elbow and twice had to leave the game to have his nose plugged.

“I think I lost a pint of blood, but I’m good now,” he was able to joke later. “Kudos to [Rockville trainer] Elise [Pratt] for getting me back out there.”

With Robinson’s defense forcing Rockville turnovers, the Maroons got within 16-10, then 18-14, then 22-21 when big Derrick Nicholas got a steal near midcourt and drove for a layup.

Jordon McFall closed out the first half with a pair of free throws for Rockville, however, and the Rox opened a deliberate, defense-oriented third quarter with a layup by Nick Waltz on a nifty pass from Keiontre Wilkey and a jumper by Gary Ulrich.

Robinson’s Cory Blount got the last basket of the third quarter and the first one of the fourth period, and again the Maroons were within one at 30-29. But Ulrich’s pass found Wittenmyer for a layup, and McFall flipped in an underhand left-handed shot from behind the basket on the right baseline to make it 34-29.

Nicholas got a pair of free throws to cut the lead to three points again, but then Lane Mahurin started breaking down the Robinson defense out of Rockville’s spread. The 6-foot-7 senior got a free throw on one drive down the middle, then a three-point play on another for a 38-31 lead. Ulrich closed out the Rockville scoring from the foul line.

“They’re a really good team, probably the best we’ve played to this point,” coach Mack Thompson of Robinson said of the Rox. “We got a bad start, but we battled back. We got it down to one … but we didn’t mke the plays we needed to.

“It was fun up to the end though.”

“Robinson is a great team,” said Lane Mahurin. “I’m just happy we could pull it out tonight.”

McFall led Rockville in scoring with 13 points. Ulrich’s late free throws enabled him to score 10, while Lane Mahurin had nine and Wittenmyer eight.

“My confidence has grown so much over the summer,” said McFall, who thanked his coaches for encouraging him to work on his shooting. “We all needed confidence tonight. We knew who [the Maroons’] players were and what we needed to do defensively.”

Siler, the target of some of the Wabash Valley’s best defenders throughout the tournament, had 15 for Robinson and Nicholas added nine.

Asked if he’d enjoyed his first Classic, Siler said, “The first three [games] were good. [The Rox are] a good team; they’ve got a good big guy and some shooters.”

“He has a sick crossover [dribble],” said Wittenmyer of Siler, whom he guarded most of the time in the late going, “I just had to stay in front of him.”

Both teams expect their four Classic games to give them a boost toward their goals for later in the season.

“This will be huge for us,” Thompson predicted. “This type of atmosphere, the teams we played … we got a look at everything but the kitchen sink this week. We came to get better, and I think we’re getting there.”

“This will help us a lot,” Siler agreed. “There was good competition here, and some really good games.”

“This boosts our confidence,” said McFall. “We know we can accomplish anything … the sky’s the limit.”

“Being able to go undefeated through the whole tourney is great,” said Wittenmyer. “It’s great preparation for the state finals.”



ROBINSON (39) — Akande 2-5 2-5 6, Scott 1-2 0-0 3, Nicholas 3-10 3-5 9, Siler 6-14 0-0 15, Blount 2-9 0-0 4, Hoagland 1-2 0-0 2, Weck 0-0 0-0 0, Chipman 0-0 0-0 0, Richart 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 15-43 FG, 5-10 FT, 39 TP.

ROCKVILLE (44) — Mahurin 2-5 5-6 9, Wittenmyer 4-6 0-1 8, McFall 5-11 2-2 13, Ulrich 1-7 8-10 10, Wilkey 1-1 0-0 2, Waltz 1-3 0-1 2, R.Brown 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-33 FG, 15-20 FT, 44 TP.

Robinson    6    15    6    12    —    39

Rockville    16    8    6    14    —    44

3-point shooting — Robinson 4-16 (Siler 3-8, Scott 1-1, Akande 0-1, Richart 0-1, Blount 0-5), Rockville 1-10 (McFall 1-5, Waltz 0-1, Ulrich 0-4). Total fouls — Robinson 19, Rockville 11. Fouled out — Nicholas, Akande. Turnovers — Robinson 13, Rockville 12. Rebounds — Robinson 28 (Nicholas 6, team 6, Akande 5, Blount 4, Siler 3, Scott 2, Hoagland 2), Rockville 29 (Mahurin 6, Waltz 5, Wittenmyer 4, McFall 4, Ulrich 4, team 4, Wilkey 2). Assists — Robinson 6 (Blount 2, Richart 2, Akande, Hoagland), Rockville 8 (Mahurin 2, Wittenmyer 2, Ulrich 2, Wilkey 2). Steals — Robinson 10 (Blount 4, Nicholas 2, Akande, Scott, Siler, Hoagland), Rockville 8 (Wittenmyer 5, Mahurin 2, Wilkey). Blocks — Robinson 3 (Akande 2, Chipman), Rockville 4 (Mahurin 3, Wittenmyer).

Next — Robinson (12-2) plays Friday at Hutsonville-Palestine. Rockville (11-0) plays Saturday at Terre Haute North.



 

Text Only | Photo Reprints
Sports
  • ISU's Negele answers call in big way in wake of Manaea injury

    When Indiana State starting pitcher Sean Manaea slumped on the mound in obvious pain after he took his warm-up pitches, red flags raised for ISU’s Missouri Valley Conference tournament hopes.

    May 21, 2013

  • West Vigo softball holds off nemesis Edgewood in softball sectional

    Ice cream was enough of a reward Monday night after the West Vigo Vikings beat eight-time defending champion Edgewood 6-2 in extra innings in the opening game of the Class 3A softball sectional at Edgewood High School. But that’s not what Vikings want.

    May 21, 2013

  • SPT0511613manaea3.jpg ISU baseball hoping Manaea can get its MVC Tournament moving in right direction

    Indiana State’s baseball team has been waiting all season for its stars to align.
    But this is the 2013 Sycamores, after all, and after a season in which seemingly little has gone right, it appears its stars will remain crossed at the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.

    May 21, 2013 1 Photo

  • PREP ROUNDUP: Shakamak's Green hits two homers in win over West Vigo

    Shakamak improved to 22-3 on the season behind a complete-game effort from Brett Yeryar, and Patrick Green hit two solo home runs in a high school baseball game Monday.

    May 21, 2013

  • Terre Haute North offense unable to get going in loss to Mooresville

    Jack Kirchner chose to give credit Monday night to Mooresville pitcher Taylor Chitwood, not to the Greg Maddux-size strike zone she seemed to enjoy.
    But if there were no excuses forthcoming from Kirchner and his Terre Haute North High School softball team, it wouldn’t have been hard to find a spectator or two to come up with extenuating circumstances about the Patriots’ 4-1 loss at the Class 4A Martinsville Sectional.

    May 21, 2013

  • SPT042213relaywelkergoatee.jpg Terre Haute North looking strong going into girls track regional

    Terre Haute North might need an off night for anyone to catch them in the girls track regional at Evansville Central.
    The Patriots are as well-rounded as they’ve ever been, and two relay teams are state contenders with times ranking No. 2 in Indiana among times recorded all spring.
    Terre Haute South, Northview and Sullivan have athletes among the contenders in multiple events as well.

    May 21, 2013 1 Photo

  • ISU sending largest group yet to postseason

    On the heels of their thrilling double victory at the 2013 Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships both the Indiana State men and women moved up in the national rankings which were released Tuesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

    May 21, 2013

  • South tennis ready for potential challenge in regional

    Terre Haute South and Northview take respective records of 10-5 and 11-5 into the Greencastle Regional today.

    May 21, 2013

  • softballsecs.jpg Softball sectionals up for grabs

    All three Vigo County high schools and Northview appear to have a realistic chance of winning sectional championships in softball this week.

    May 20, 2013 1 Photo

  • Rose to send 5 to national finals

    Five Rose-Hulman athletes have qualified for the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships later this week at Wisconsin-LaCrosse.

    May 20, 2013

Local Interest
softballsecs.jpg

Softball sectionals

High School
College
  • ISU's Negele answers call in big way in wake of Manaea injury

    When Indiana State starting pitcher Sean Manaea slumped on the mound in obvious pain after he took his warm-up pitches, red flags raised for ISU’s Missouri Valley Conference tournament hopes.

    May 21, 2013

  • SPT0511613manaea3.jpg ISU baseball hoping Manaea can get its MVC Tournament moving in right direction

    Indiana State’s baseball team has been waiting all season for its stars to align.
    But this is the 2013 Sycamores, after all, and after a season in which seemingly little has gone right, it appears its stars will remain crossed at the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.

    May 21, 2013 1 Photo

  • ISU track sending record 22 to postseason

    On the heels of their thrilling double victory at the 2013 Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships both the Indiana State men and women moved up in the national rankings which were released Tuesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

    May 20, 2013

  • SPT 043013 ACE HUNT TROPHY.jpg ISU's athletic treasure trove

    Think of every championship that Indiana State has won in each of its sports, past and present. Think of every tournament — postseason or regular season — which the Sycamores have claimed as their own.

    May 19, 2013 9 Photos 2 Links

  • Ort sets ISU RBI record in 16-7 win

    Robby Ort celebrated his Indiana State baseball Senior Day on Saturday by becoming the Sycamores’ all-time leader in RBIs as ISU ended its regular season with a 16-7 win over Bradley at Bob Warn Field.

    May 19, 2013

Sports Columns
Pro Sports
Terre Haute Rex
SPT 071512 DORSETT FILE.jpg

Consultation: Rex manager Brian Dorsett talks with his pitcher and players during a time-out Sunday, July 15, at Sycamore Field. (Tribune-Star file/Bob Poynter)

Colts
Auto Racing
Latest News
Multimedia

Like us on Facebook!
Community Calendar
Loading…
Events by eviesays.com
TribStar.com Poll
Front page
AP Video
Big 12 Baseball Reacts to Tornadoes Athletes come to aid of Oklahoma tornado victims Tiger Woods on his relationship with Sergio Garcia NBA Draft: Top 5 Prospects VIRAL: Baby makes epic soccer goal Race Preview: Charlotte Motor Speedway Behind the Seams: Big Spenders are Busts Red Wings take 2-1 series lead McReynolds: Johnson Coca-Cola 600 favorite? McReynolds: 48 Team primed for Chase Myers: 'We still need to do some evaluating as to what exactly we need' Weekend Recruiting Wrap Heat vs. Pacers: Playoff grudge match Triple Play: Miguel Cabrera, Giants, and Rays Globe 10.0: Can the Bruins young defensemen keep playing well? Does Tiger feel he should clear the air with Sergio? In a word: no. Redskins looking to find edge at the tight end position Galiardi: 'We think we're the better team' Kevin Dupont discusses Bruins-Rangers Game 2 Singer forgets lyrics, makes up words to National Anthem
NDN Video
Kate Middleton's Dress Flies Up VIRAL: Baby makes epic soccer goal The Hangover Baby All Grown Up Olivia Munn Flaunts Her Bikini Bod Britney Spears Under Fire Once Again For Being A Bad Mom Arias Tells Jury What She'd Do if She Gets Life The all-new Xbox One RAW: Massive tornado strikes Oklahoma Nidal Hasan paid $278K while awaiting trial VIDEO: Teacher reunites mother and son after tornado levels elementary school in Oklahoma City Okla. tornado survivor finds dog buried alive under rubble Jennifer Lawrence Gets Naked and Painted Blue as X-Men's Mystique Pickler's Dance Moves Cause A Stir Obama to tornado survivors: The country stands beside you Reporter Cries Over Devastation Sneak Peek: 'Modern Family' Says Good Bye Trailer: 'The Last Stand' Available on Blu-ray Disc, DVD, Digital Download IWitness Look at Moore, OK Tornado RAW: Moore, OK tornado touches down near school Robert Pattinson Moves Out
Parade
Magazine
Click HERE to read all your Parade favorites including Hollywood Wire, Celebrity interviews and photo galleries, Food recipes and cooking tips, Games and lots more.
  • -

     

    March 12, 2010

activity