MOUNT VERNON — Playing before the home crowd for the first time in three weeks, the Mount Vernon High School boys basketball team didn’t disappoint on Tuesday night. The Yellow Jackets looked much improved in their return to “The Hive,” rolling past the River View Black Bears, 58-28.
“This was a nice win. It seems like we were gone more than three games; it seems like three months,” said Mount Vernon coach Kurt Kaufman. “We talked before the game about trying to do the things we work on in practice. These guys are growing in that. We talked about making the extra pass, and you saw that tonight. We had one possession in the first half where we made 10 passes, reversed the ball a couple of times and got a wide-open shot. Another one we entered it to the post, he got doubled, so we kicked it out and got a 3. Those are the things we’ve been working on in practice. To see them do that and put it into a game situation is amazing. They are growing and getting better.”
It didn’t take long for Mount Vernon to establish itself as the better team on Tuesday night. High pressure on defense caused the Black Bears problems and led to many opportunities for the Jackets. Mount Vernon opened the game on a 14-4 run, and led 16-8 after one quarter of play.
That type of play carried over into the second quarter. The Jackets got a 3-pointer from Ben Severns and back-to-back baskets by Cuy Sheffield to make it a 23-8 ballgame. River View cut the lead back to 11 at the half, 25-14, with a 6-4 spurt.
“Throughout the week, coach had us focused on ball movement and passing,” Mount Vernon junior post Joe Scott said. “We came out and executed. That was our No. 1 priority; we didn’t let them settle in.”
The teams traded buckets early in the third quarter with the Black Bears getting within 10 points with 5:13 to go. That, however, was as close as they got the rest of the night. Led by a 3 from Russell Doup, Mount Vernon went on a 9-2 spurt over the next two minutes and opened up a 17-point advantage. Scott had eight points in the quarter, which ended with Mount Vernon leading, 38-22.
“We wanted to get the ball inside, and if they doubled, our guards would relocate and get open,” said Scott. “That led to a lot of open shots.”
The fourth quarter belonged to the Jackets. A three-point play by Stephen Bien and a 3 from Severns started a runaway train. Mount Vernon jumped ahead by 30, 54-24, after a 16-2 run in the first four minutes of the final period. River View cut into the lead by four only to see the Jackets take those points back in the final three minutes, and seal the 58-28 victory.
Scott had a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds to lead Mount Vernon. He went 7-of-10 from the field and also had two blocks. Bien added 11 points in the post. Severns scored 11 points and had two steals and two assists; Sheffield had nine points — all in the first half — and led the team with three steals and five assists.
“It feels good (to win at home). Real good,” said Scott.
As a team, Mount Vernon was 25-of-45 from the field, including 4-of-10 beyond the arc. Mount Vernon, which was 4-of-9 from the free-throw line, outrebounded River View, 30-21, outstole the Black Bears, 13-2, and had 13 assists to the Bears four. Each team had three blocks. River View was 9-of-37 from the field, including 0-4 from the three-point line, and went 10-of-15 from the charity stripe.
The Jackets held River View’s leading scorer, Brant Schonauer, to just five points on 2-of-10 shooting. Vince Moore led the team in scoring with eight points, and had five rebounds. Nick Johnson had four points, five rebounds and three blocks.
“We did some good things defensively. We held their leading scorer to five points,” said Kaufman. “That’s good, but we still have got to continue to get better. We can never remain constant. You either regress or progress, and we are working to progress.”
In reserve action, Mount Vernon improved its record to 6-0 by defeating the Black Bears, 59-25. T.T. Crouch led all scorers with 19 points. Ethan Abell scored 12 points, and Riley Swanson added 11 points in the victory.
Mount Vernon is back in action on Friday in another road contest. The Jackets travel to Dublin Scioto to face the Irish at 6 p.m.
“In high school basketball, you’ve got to be ready to play every night,” said Kaufman. “Anybody can beat anybody on a given night. I think our guys have found that out and understand that there are certain parameters we have to play under. We’ve got to play within those to be successful.
“It is going to take a team effort against Scioto. They are really good. They’ve got good guards and big post guys, but we can’t worry about what Scioto does. We’ve got to play our game.”
