Mount Vernon News

DELAWARE — The Mount Vernon High School boys basketball team tipped off the 2006-07 in Delaware on Saturday night after a power outage postponed the opener with Lexington. The Yellow Jackets had strong first and third quarters against the Pacers, but it wasn’t enough to stop Delaware, which pulled out a 49-47 victory.

“This is a good way to start,” said Delaware coach Larry Eberst. “We had two close ones with them last year and we have a lot of guys back who remember that. Any win over Mount Vernon in any sport is a great win. They have been Delaware’s rival for so long. It is great to start off 1-0 because we have not done that for a long time. To beat Mount Vernon in our first game is a great thing for our program.”

The loss left the Jackets disappointed, especially since they had a five-point lead entering the final quarter.

“The kids played hard and we did have a shot at the end, but we just didn’t get it done,” said Mount Vernon coach Kurt Kaufman. “We need to be able to step up in certain situations. We had some people that maybe didn’t step up. I don’t know if it is a lack of experience or what, but we really struggled to score at the end. We’ve got to have other people step up and score for us.”

Things started well for Mount Vernon (0-1). The Jackets opened up a 9-2 lead over the first 4 1/2 minutes of the game, but Ryan Treese got Delaware (1-0) going with seven first-quarter points. The Pacers closed the quarter on a 6-3 spurt to pull within three, 14-11, after one.

A 3-pointer by Delaware’s Chace Conroy tied the game to start the second quarter and a layin by Treese gave the Pacers their first lead of the game less than a minute into the second quarter. That lead extended to four, 20-16, less than two minutes later and stalled there for much of the quarter.

“They went to a zone and we struggled a little bit with that,” Kaufman said.

A putback by Mount Vernon’s Tony Tear broke the scoring drought with 2:53 left and a 3-pointer by Richard Rucker with 56 seconds left gave Mount Vernon a 21-20 halftime advantage. Chris Glibert, who missed much of the first half after picking up two quick fouls in the first quarter, was credited with an assist on the play.

Leading, but not playing up to their potential, the Jackets got a talk from Kaufman. Coming out of the locker room, the Jackets seemed energized and responsive.

“We stressed our defense. You can’t give up easy baskets,” said Kaufman. “We talked about, offensively, looking for the best shot.”

Mount Vernon scored the first five points of the third quarter and outscored Delaware 12-4 in the first five minutes to go up by nine, 33-24. The Pacers, with Treese on the bench in foul trouble, rode Rob Matthews and Myron Knox on a 9-0 run to tie the game at 33 with 33 seconds left. Kyle Eberst added a 3-pointer as well. Jacket senior Kyle Clinedinst made a three-point play with 17 seconds left to retake the lead and senior Nate Short hit a pair of free throws to make it a five-point lead, 38-33, with six seconds left in the quarter.

The Jackets entered the final quarter of play with a big lead in fouls (only four compared to Delaware’s eight) and scored their first five points of the fourth quarter at the free-throw line. The Mount Vernon defense, however, couldn’t handle the Pacers. Trailing by four, 43-39, with 3:57 left, Delaware put together another 9-0 run to take a five-point lead of its own. Clinedinst fouled out on the final point of the run after being called for a charge with 35 seconds left to play.

“We need to take advantage of any opportunities we have. We’ve got to be able to earn it at the line when we are in that position,” said Kaufman of the foul differential.

Seemingly out of the game, Short pulled his team back into it with a jumper and two free throws in the next 19 seconds. On the next play, Treese was fouled by Glibert and hit just 1-of-2 at the line, making it a 49-47 game with 14 seconds left and Mount Vernon’s ball. The Jackets brought the ball up the court and Rucker worked to get the ball inside, but when the play didn’t develop, the Jackets kicked the ball outside. It passed through three Jackets’ hands before landing in Tear’s, who threw up a three-point attempt from the left corner at the buzzer. The ball bounced off the rim, ending the game.

“I think that our defense caused them to get out of their flow and out of their patterns,” said coach Eberst. “They kind of forced some shots and that was the key. Offensively, we hit some shots when we needed to, but we didn’t shoot real well. The key was our defense. Treese took a couple of charges with four fouls on him. We made some plays when we had to.”

The tandem of Treese and Matthews accounted for 28 of Delaware’s 49 points and gave the Jackets matchup problems all night. Matthews finished with a double-double, adding 10 rebounds. He also led Delaware with three steals, three assists and two blocks. Treese finished 6-of-8 from the field despite having four fouls.

Rucker led Mount Vernon, which shot just 34 percent from the field, with 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting. Short went 7-of-10 from the free-throw line and added nine points; Tear finished with eight points, four rebounds and three steals; and Clinedinst had seven points, six rebounds and five steals.

In reserve action, Mount Vernon (1-0) beat the Pacers, 59-53. Sophomore Ben Severns led the way with 19 points. Jaryd Rogers and Joe Scott each added nine points, and Gabe Uhrig had eight points.

The Jackets return to action on Friday. Mount Vernon hosts Westerville South to open Ohio Capital Conference Cardinal Division play. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m.

“We’ve got to get everybody contributing. That’s going to be our focus this week,” Kaufman said. “We can’t rely on just a few guys. We’ve got to have everyone if we are going to win.”

Notes: The makeup date for Friday’s postponement with Lexington is set for Saturday, Dec. 16, with a junior varsity start of 6 p.m.