By Brian Hall
Mount Vernon, MO – Mt Vernon hosted Big 8 Conference foe Aurora Tuesday evening. They connected on key free throws down the stretch to finish out a 58-53 victory. Last year, the Mountaineers could very well have lost a game like this one.
“That’s a game last year we wouldn’t have been mentally tough enough to overcome,” said Mt Vernon head coach Mike Ray.
The Mt’Neers held a slim four-point lead with less than a minute to play. Brett Campbell went 4-4 and Kelly Vaughn hit both of his free throw attempts to give Mt Vernon a little more comfortable lead down the stretch.
Mt. Vernon (8-7; 3-0) ran their offense in the first quarter and got all of their production from senior Jarrett Massie. He scored the first six points for the Mt’Neers as they opened up a 6-0 lead. And even though Mt Vernon forced eight Aurora turnovers in the period, they only connected on 25% of their shot attempts going 3-for-12.
The Houn’ Dawgs did all their scoring in the last four minutes of the first quarter. They matched Mt Vernon in shooting efficiency for the period, hitting two of eight shots. The quarter ended with the Mt’Neers up 6-5.
Coach Ray suggested a reason for the limited scoring at the start of the game. “Our kids were almost trying too hard,” he said. “It’s a big rivalry game and they all wanted to make a spectacular play instead of making a simple one.”
Aurora took the lead at 6:56 on a conventional three-point play by Preston Naylor. Naylor scored half of his team’s 18 points in the frame and finished the game with a team-high 21 points. The Houn’ Dawgs finished the half up two, 23-21.
Whatever offensive struggles there were in the first half disappeared in the third quarter. Aurora had begun to show signs that they could connect from deep as they took a seven point lead on a 3-pointer by Austin Erickson. Ericsson hit five shots from long range, all of them in the third period.
A countering trey from Massie at 5:12 cut the Aurora lead to four. And shortly thereafter, Mt Vernon post player Kyle Bushman put down a thundering dunk that woke the home crowd.
Coach Ray said there was a noticeable change in the atmosphere. “Kyle is a big force,” said Coach Ray. “His dunk kinda got the kids excited. I looked at the scoreboard and we were still down so I wasn’t that excited,” quipped Ray.
Massie thought that was a key play in the game. “It really got our crowd excited and pumped us up.”
Mt. Vernon took the lead as time expired in the third quarter on a basket by Vaughn to make the score 48-46.
The scoreboard cooled down as the fourth period began. The Mt’Neers missed their first six shots and the Houn’ Dawgs missed their first three. No one scored until the 3:36 mark when Naylor hit a basket for Aurora to tie the score at 48. Mt Vernon didn’t get on the board until 1:46 was left in the game on a fadeaway shot by Bushman in the paint. Bushman hit another inside shot with just under a minute left to play to put Mt Vernon up four.
The late free throws fell for Mt Vernon at the end of the game as they had the whole night. They finished 16-for-18 from the line. Aurora was even better from the stripe hitting all of their free throws, but the only shot eight of them for the game.
“Our defense really put us over the top, especially in the fourth quarter,” said Massie who finished with a game-high 29 points.
“It was not the prettiest game to watch, but it was two teams that fought very hard and battled,” said Coach Ray.
Mt Vernon: 6 – 15 – 27 – 10 — 58
Aurora: 5 – 18 – 23 – 7 — 53
Mt Vernon: Bushman, 10; Campbell, 13; Massie, 29; Vaughn, 6
Aurora: Clark, 2; Dunning, 4; Erickson, 15; Hilton, 5; Miller, 4; Naylor, 21; Weatherman, 2
