Mt. Vernon boys basketball beats Seneca by 33, Lady Mt’neers wallop Seneca

The Mt. Vernon High School boys basketball team played two games last week, defeating Seneca but losing to Forsyth.
 
On Friday, Feb. 20 the Mt’neers traveled to Forsyth but lost to the Panthers, 62-48.
 
Forsyth jumped out quickly, scoring 24 points in the first quarter to lead by 14 points. It was a closer scoring game in the second quarter as the Panthers outscored Mt. Vernon 17-16 to increase their lead to 41-26 at the half. The Mt’neers played some good defense in the third quarter, only allowing seven points, while scoring 13 points to cut the deficit to 48-39. In the final quarter of play, the Panthers began to push the score back up, as they hit for 14 points to close out the 14-point win.
 
“Forsyth is playing really well right now, providing us with a district quality opponent and environment which is exactly what we needed at this point of the season,” said head coach Ryan Worley. “They came out attacking us from the tip and we started off slower than we needed to. We finally settled in by playing with more urgency and intensity in the second half, cutting their lead to nine points for a stretch but couldn’t overcome our first half deficit. The first half exposed that we’ve lost a little bit of the defensive edge that we’ve had in recent weeks, but we liked how we got it back in the second half. We will need to continue to have an urgency to everything we do in the upcoming weeks for us to have any level of success this post season. If we can use what we learned from this game, then it has the potential to have a lot of value for us moving forward.”
 
Griffin Cordray led Mt. Vernon with 19 points and Hunter Dawson added 11 points in the game.
 
The Mt’neers started their week by traveling to Seneca to take on the Indians and came home with a 67-34 victory.
 
Mt. Vernon buried the Indians early scoring 27 points in the first quarter to take a 27-10 first quarter lead. The Mt’neers would add another 12 points in the second quarter to lead 39-18 by halftime. In the third quarter, Mt. Vernon regained their shooting touch, scoring 17 points to increase their lead to 56-28. The Mt’neers would close out the game and their scoring with 11 points in the final quarter of play to win the game by 33 points.
 
“We had another great defensive effort from the guys tonight,” said Worley. “When we are engaged and connected on the defensive end our offense seems to follow suit. Offensively, we felt like we moved the ball well resulting in great shots and a balanced scoring night. We are starting to find a nice rhythm on both ends of the floor, which the coaches attest to the guys embracing their individual roles and the strengths that they each bring to this team. It's every team's goal to be playing their best going into the end of a season. If we can continue to have a great focused effort defensively as well as staying efficient on offense, then we should be able to maintain playing at a high level moving into the home stretch of the season.”
 
Hunter Conway paced Mt. Vernon with 21 points, Cordray added 17 points and Dawson finished the game with 14 points.
 
Mt. Vernon is now 13-11 on the season and were scheduled to play at Buffalo last night before hosting Aurora tonight to finish out their regular season. The Class 4, District 12 Tournament is set to begin on March 3 in Nevada and Mt. Vernon is seeded third. Nevada is the top seed, followed by East Newton, Mt. Vernon, Monett, Cassville and Seneca. The tournament will conclude on March 7.
 
Girls basketball
The Lady Mt’neers hosted Buffalo on Thursday, Feb. 19 but fell in a close game 41-39.
 
The Lady Bison led 17-13 after the first quarter and 22-20 at the half. In the third quarter, Mt. Vernon played great defense, allowing only nine points, but scored just eight points in the quarter. The Lady Mt’neers outscored Buffalo 11-10 in the fourth quarter but lost thee game by two points.
 
Elli Eddington led Mt. Vernon with 16 points and added seven rebounds in the game, Emmie Schubert added 10 points and led with eight rebounds.
 
“Foul trouble caught up to us early, forcing us to fight through a lot of uncontrollables throughout the night,” said head coach Alexis Cauthon. “Credit to Buffalo, their defense really disrupted our rhythm, and we struggled to swing the ball effectively to find our looks. This loss is a heartbreaker, but my hope is that we use it as fuel heading into our final week of the regular season. We still have a lot of areas where we need to improve, and we have to stay locked in as we prepare for districts.”
 
Mt. Vernon played host to Seneca on Monday, Feb. 16 and blew out the Lady Indians, 70-36.
 
The Lady Mt’neers led 18-3 after the first quarter and 42-10 at the half. The scoring continued in the second half, as Mt. Vernon scored 15 points in the third quarter and 13 points in the fourth quarter to win the game by 34 points.
 
Schubert finished the game with a double-double, scoring 16 points and pulling down 18 rebounds and Kenley Eidemiller added 14 points and nine rebounds in the win.
 
“This was a fantastic team victory over a district opponent,” said Cauthon. “We shared the ball exceptionally well, but it was our hard-nosed defense that really set the tone and made every possession difficult for them. We played with a selfless ‘sisterhood’ mentality that truly reflects the identity we’ve been building. It’s exciting to see who we are becoming as a group, and I’m looking forward to our continued growth through the rest of the season and into the future.”
 
Mt. Vernon is 7-15 on the season and were scheduled to play their final regular season game at home against Clever on Monday night.