MOUNT VERNON — The Mount Vernon High School boys basketball team faced a stiff challenge in its league opener on Tuesday night. Unfortunately, the challenge — the Olentangy Orange Pioneers — got the best of it.
The Pioneers started slow, but finished strong to hold off the Yellow Jackets, 54-50. After just four points in the opening period, including one field goal, Orange rolled along.
“I think we believe in what we do, and it showed,” said Olentangy Orange coach John Betz. “We’ve got good kids. We were getting the shots we wanted; they just didn’t go in. I just told our kids to keep believing in their shots because they will drop. Once a couple dropped, we got a little momentum and started playing better.
“When you make shots, you play better defense, and I thought our defense was excellent all night. We were doubling down in the post because [Mount Vernon] has two big kids that are outstanding players. I think our game plan worked.”
“Give credit to Olentangy Orange,” said Mount Vernon coach Kurt Kaufman. “They did a nice job. They found the open guy; they stuck the shot; they played good defense. They got us hurrying, and we stopped dispersing the basketball, getting the basketball inside. Everything we talk about in practice we stopped doing for some reason.”
Mount Vernon (1-1, 0-1 Ohio Capital Conference Capital Division) caused problems for the Pioneers (1-1, 1-0 OCC) early on, and several shots couldn’t find the net. Olentangy’s Zach Joseph hit two free throws to open the scoring, but Mount Vernon scored the next 11 points. Cuy Sheffield had six points and Joe Scott added three in the quarter. Taylor Rieger hit a jumper with 29 seconds left for Orange’s first field goal of the game. Two free throws by Ben Hoar put Mount Vernon up, 13-4, after one quarter.
Rieger’s basket seemed to jump start the Pioneer offense in the second quarter. Orange opened the quarter on a 9-2 run, and eventually took the lead because of Rieger’s play. In a period of less than a minute, Rieger had two steals, which he converted into easy layups, and drilled a 3-pointer. The last steal and layup with 2:25 to go put the Pioneers on top for the first time, 18-17. Hoar helped the Jackets retake the lead in the final minutes of the half, hitting a jumper and a free throw. Scott made it a four-point lead, 22-18, with a pair of free throws just before the half expired.
Orange continued its hot play in the second half, opening the third quarter on a 12-2 run. Rieger again played a large role, scoring eight points. Mount Vernon tied the game at 32 with an 8-2 spurt of its own, but the Pioneers held a 36-35 lead heading into the final quarter.
“Part of the problem when you are not scoring is you can’t get back to play defense,” Kaufman said. “They are pretty good open-court players, and they got some transition baskets. They were able to get us before our defense was set and beat us down. They did a nice job.”
Mount Vernon stayed close, even taking the lead less than two minutes into the fourth quarter. A pair of buckets by Sheffield, including a three-point play, gave the Jackets what turned out to be their final lead, 40-39. Rieger and Bryce Agler hit back-to-back 3s over the next two minutes, and two free throws by Rieger made it a seven-point game.
Still, the Jackets kept battling. Ben Severns, who had been silent for most of the game, helped lead the charge back, hitting a free throw and a 3-pointer to pull his team back within two, 50-48. A putback by Joe Scott tied the game at 50 with 47 seconds left, but a layin by Jalen Davis put the Pioneers back up with 15 seconds to play.
Sheffield brought the ball back down the court and found a lane to the basket. Sheffield, however, was called for a charge after an Orange player stepped into his lane. That gave Orange the ball, and Mount Vernon was forced to foul. Rieger was the target before the ball got in play, and he hit both shots to seal the win.
“If you know Taylor Rieger, you know he is in the gym more than any other high school player,” said Betz. “He is in the gym hours upon hours. For him to shoot those free throws in that situation, it is because he has done it hours upon hours upon hours. There is nobody else I would want in that situation.”
“We were never out of the game. We always had a chance,” said Kaufman. “It came down to execution, and when it mattered most, they executed and we didn’t.”
Rieger scored a game-high 23 points, and had five rebounds and three steals for Orange, which celebrated the school’s first victory. Davis added 11 points and two blocks.
“This is one,” said Betz. “The season is a long haul, but this is one. There are going to be teams knock off other teams the rest of the way. We’re not the only ones; we just did it now. The league is too balanced for anyone to run it. It is a goal of ours to win the league.”
Sheffield led Mount Vernon with 20 points and two steals. He also had eight rebounds. Scott had nine points and 14 rebounds; Hoar finished with 11 points, and Severns added six points.
For Kaufman, the loss showed his team’s weaknesses. Now, it is time to correct those areas before more damage is done.
“We’ve got to get back to being a team,” Kaufman said. “We’ve got to give up a shot to get a better shot, get the ball inside. Those are things we always talk about, and we can’t get away from those things.”
In reserve action, Mount Vernon improved to 2-0 with a 54-42 victory over Olentangy Orange. Riley Swanson scored 14 points to lead the junior varsity Jackets. Dakota Anderson dropped in 13 points; T.T. Crouch scored nine points, and Kenny Rucker finished with eight points.
Mount Vernon is back in action on Friday, traveling to Delaware for another conference contest.
