Mt’neers take second in Diamond

The Mt. Vernon Mt’neer basketball team had a great showing at the 2024 Gem City Classic defeating El Dorado Springs and host Diamond, before falling to Lighthouse Christian Academy in the championship game.
The Mt’neers opened their 2024-25 season Tuesday night against a thorn in the side to the Mt’neers as the Bulldogs had ended on top in the last two meetings. Defense was the story early on as neither team was able to get going. ELDO had a great game plan coming in to limit Mt. Vernon’s Jarrett Zerby to just a single shot attempt and 0 points in the first quarter, as ELDO led 10-8 after one quarter. The second quarter was a different story as Zerby got going hitting three threes in the second quarter for 11 second-quarter points. However, it was ELDO that rode a 31-24 lead into the break. Mt. Vernon turned the tide in the third quarter as junior duo Hunter Conway and Lucas Schoen got going, propelling the Mt’neers in the third quarter to take a 54-36 lead into the fourth. In the fourth quarter, it was the Zerby show as the senior capped off a 21-point showing as the Mt’neers cruised to a 71-46 victory for Mt. Vernon’s first win over ELDO since the 2017 district tournament.
The win along with a Diamond victory over ELDO on Wednesday meant Friday’s matchup with the Wildcats would decide who would win the pool play side of the tournament to play for the championship. The atmosphere was electric in Diamond for the makeshift semifinal game and the Wildcats used the energy early on. Diamond jumped out to a 7-0 lead as Zerby struggled to get going again. Fellow senior Luke Robbins picked up the slack, scoring nine first quarter points. The Mt’neers went on a run late but still trailed 19-16 after one quarter. After a low scoring second quarter, where each team scored just nine points, Mt. Vernon found themselves trailing 28-25 at halftime. The contents of coach Ryan Worley’s halftime speech is unknown but it was effective as the Mt’neers responded in a huge way outscoring the Wildcats 20-12, but more importantly taking a 45-40 lead into the final quarter.
Zerby only got a single basket to fall in his 8-point performance but Robbins 13, Schoen’s 11, Conway’s 12 and Juliun Hernandez’ 10 points were enough to propel the Mt’neers to a 65-55 victory.
This set up a championship matchup with Lighthouse Christian Academy. The Mt’neers battled hard but the sharp shooting of the Chargers was too much to overcome as Lighthouse defeated Mt. Vernon 63-42.
The Mt’neers open the season 2-1 in the first week of the Ryan Worley era of Mt. Vernon basketball. They will return to action Tuesday as they travel to Stone County to take on the 3-0 Crane Pirates. They return home Friday for their home opener against Diamond, as the Wildcats will have revenge on the mind.