Mt. Vernon Mt’neers take fourth in Stockton tournament

The Mt. Vernon Mt’neers were busy last week after snow pushed the start of the Stockton tournament to Wednesday. The Mt’neers took fourth in the 54th annual tournament after dropping a thrilling game in a rematch against Lamar 54-53.
The tournament opened with a showdown with fifth seed Lockwood. The Mt’neers started slow but Landon Jones got three threes to fall in a big third quarter in part of his game-high 23 points as the Mt’neers cruised to a 54-36 victory. The win set up a very tough matchup against the top seeded El Dorado Springs Bulldogs, Friday night. The Mt’neers struggled with the size of the Bulldogs as ELDO rushed to a convincing 53-36 win over Mt. Vernon and the Mt’neers moved to the 3rd place game against Lamar.
After falling to Lamar by 12 earlier this month, Mt. Vernon and Jarrett Zerby came out fast. A big second quarter gave the Mt’neers a 29-24 lead at the break behind big halves from Hunter Conway and Hunter Dawson. Another big reason for this lead was Mt. Vernon’s ability to shut down Lamar’s Ian Ngugi to just four first half points. However, Mt. Vernon couldn’t hold him in the second half as a free throw with just a few seconds remaining in the game gave him 26 points, but more importantly the Tigers a 54-53 lead. Zerby got a decent look from the volleyball line at the buzzer but clanked off the front of the rim for the Lamar victory.
Mt. Vernon falls to 7-6 for the season with a tough week upcoming. After Monday’s game got postponed due to icy conditions, The Mt’neers returned to the court Tuesday as they welcomed in Rogersville, before traveling to Aurora, Friday night.