Purdue Signee Luke Ertel Reaches Impressive Scoring Milestone at Mount Vernon
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Luke Ertel continues to leave his mark at Mount Vernon High School. Over the weekend, the 2026 Purdue signee reached a new milestone, scoring the 1,000th point of his career with the Marauders.
Ertel surpassed the impressive career benchmark while leading Mount Vernon to wins over wins over two separate Lebanon teams — the first from Ohio and the second from Indiana. The Marauders defeated Lebanon (OH) 63-37 and followed it up with a win over Lebanon (IN) 60-37.
A new milestone for Luke Ertel.
— Naismith Awards (@NaismithTrophy) November 30, 2025
The Purdue commit and @jerseymikes Naismith Boys’ High School Player of the Year Watch List member reached 1,000 career points this weekend — and his climb isn’t slowing down.
Photo: @mvmarauders pic.twitter.com/68cRCLAlCT
In Friday night's game, Ertel had 16 points, eight rebounds, three steals and two assists. He followed that up with a 20-point, 10-rebound, and six-assist performance on Saturday.
Through two games, Ertel is averaging 18 points, nine rebounds, four assists, and two steals per contest. He is a candidate for the Naismith Award National Boys' Basketball High School Player of the Year.
Ertel is coming off a junior campaign at Mount Vernon in which he averaged 22.7 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game. He was an Indiana Junior All-Star at the end of last season, and he is a candidate to win the prestigious Indiana Mr. Basketball award at the end of the 2025-26 campaign.
The Marauders will play Delta on Friday and Fishers on Saturday this week.
Matt Painter talks about Luke Ertel
Ertel is one of four players who signed their National Letter of Intent to play at Purdue in November. He is currently the highest-ranked player in the Boilermakers' class, ranked No. 41 nationally, and earned a four-star rating.
After Ertel signed his letter, coach Matt Painter spoke highly of the future Purdue guard.
"I don't know if I've ever seen a high school guy that we've taken with more intestinal fortitude. Just a determined player, tough, hard-nosed, gets after it, picks you up full court, birddogs the basketball," Painter said in November. "He's really improved his arsenal in terms of shooting the basketball. Not just catching and shooting, but getting to his pull-up, getting to bodies, bouncing off bodies, being able to make floaters and runners. He's put a lot of time into his game."
Ertel committed to Purdue early, verbally pledging to the program in the summer of 2024. He never budged from his commitment and will be headed to West Lafayette for the 2026-27 campaign.
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Dustin Schutte is the publisher of Purdue Boilermakers on SI and has spent more than a decade working in sports journalism. His career began in 2013, when he covered Big Ten football. He remained in that role for eight years before working at On SI to cover the Boilermakers. Dustin graduated from Manchester University in Indiana in 2010, where he played for the men's tennis team.
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