Mt’neers take consolation championship at Blue and Gold

The Mt. Vernon Mt’neers climbed all the way through the consolation bracket for the consolation championship last week. After falling in the opening round to Branson, the Mt’neers responded by defeating Skyline, Sparta and Crane on the way to that consolation championship.
The tournament began for the Mt’neers the day after Christmas against the sixth seeded Branson Pirates. Branson jumped out early on thanks to their size and athleticism. Mt. Vernon senior Jarrett Zerby had a pair of buckets fall but Branson led 16-11. Mt. Vernon had trouble in the opening half containing Brody Gillespie as he finished the second quarter with 12 points which would be more than either one of the first two quarters for Mt. Vernon and Mt. Vernon went into the break trailing 32-21. Mt. Vernon continued to battle but Branson’s offense proved to be too much in the second half as the Pirates cruised to a 71-45 opening round victory.
Hunter Conway led the way for the Mt’neers with 11 points, followed by nine from Zerby and eight from Juliun Hernandez. Hunter Dawson finished with seven. Quinten Smiles and Lucas Schoen had three while Luke Robbins and Hudson Gaddy each had two.
The loss moved Mt. Vernon into the consolation bracket and set up a matchup with Skyline. Mt. Vernon was able to bounce back nicely as yet another balanced scoring attack was too much for the Tigers. Mt. Vernon was able to pick up their first Blue and Gold win since New Year’s eve of 2020 when Mt. Vernon beat Buffalo in the consolation championship.
The victory extended the tournament to day three for the Mt’neers for the first time in three years where they took on the Cinderella from the previous two tournaments, Sparta. While this is a new looking Sparta team, they came ready to battle as the defense was tough. The two teams combined for the fewest points by two teams in this year’s tournament. However, Mt. Vernon did emerge with a six-point victory, 43-37.
The win set up a Monday night matchup against Crane for the consolation championship. Mt. Vernon struck first and held a slim 11-9 lead after one quarter. Owen Vaught took over for Crane in the second quarter as the Pirate junior saw 10 of his 20 points in the game fall in the second period. The big period put the Pirates in the lead 25-24 at the break. Neither team backed down as a back-and-forth third quarter highlighted by a pair of threes from Zerby ended the third quarter right where they started—a deadlocked game, 36-36. Mt. Vernon’s defense was elite in the fourth quarter and held Crane to just five points. Juliun Hernandez, who was held scoreless in the first three quarters matched Crane’s five points in the fourth as Mt. Vernon hit 6-8 free throws to secure the 51-41 victory.
Zerby led the way with 16 points, followed by 12 from Dawson. Conway had six points finishing just ahead of Hernandez and Smiles who had five each. Luke Robbins finished with four and Lucas Schoen wrapped up scoring with three.
The team was also awarded the Blue & Gold sportsmanship award.

Mt. Vernon improves to 8-3 for the season as they enjoy a 10-day break as they will be back in action Thursday as they travel to Monett for a Lawrence County battle with the Cubs.