By Jordan Burton (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
In an era of basketball that’s seen the Ball Brothers become viral sensations, with social media increasing the desire of kids to do “exciting” things on the court, Mount Vernon just doesn’t really fit that mold.
But, the Mountaineers continue to win.
No. 4 Mount Vernon led for nearly the duration of Wednesday’s game, topping No. 5 Hartville 62-56 in the quarterfinals of the Blue and Gold Tournament’s Blue Bracket for its fifth consecutive win this season.
“We try to have some balance,” said Mount Vernon coach Mike Ray. “We’re not super flashy and we don’t have that one guy that’s going to overwhelm you but we try to put six or seven guys out there on the floor that are fundamentally sound, like each other and want to help each other be successful.”
Senior Kyle Bushman scored a team-high 13 points, leading four players in double figures. Part of his 13 points were a pair of tremendous dunks in the first quarter. The 6-foot-8 center continues to prove he is one of the best two-way players in the Ozarks.
“He’s our anchor on both offense and defense, there’s no doubt about it,” said Ray. “There are a lot of good players in the area, and he’s kind of a late developer because he didn’t play any significant minutes, but he’s got limitless potential. With each game he plays you can just see him becoming more and more confident.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
Mount Vernon was comfortable for much of the third quarter, but a pair of 3s by freshman Ryce Piper cut the deficit to just five.
Piper finished with nine points off the bench.
To say that Hartville coach Brett Reed was displeased with his team’s effort would be putting it mildly.
Reed went on to say that Piper was likely the brightest part of the game for Hartville.
“He played well tonight and I think if there’s a bright spot that it would have to be his play off the bench,” said Reed. “He hit some shots, played normal defense. He’s been playing better lately, and he’s played really well in the last few games. It may be time to look at getting him into a starting role if he continues to play this well.
“You have to give credit to Mount Vernon, first and foremost, because they’re a very disciplined team and well coached. But it also looked like our kids had never even been to a practice before. We had kids running around lost. They had no idea. It looked like we’d never played man defense, or really even worked on any defense before. I’m not sure if they caught some kind of bug on the bus ride over or something and just forgot how to play basketball. We were very poor defensively.”
Senior Wyatt Ward scored 13 points for Hartville, Wyatt Mahan added 10. Cale Miller (12), Ty Boswell (12), Cale Cornell (11) all joined Bushman in double figures.
Mount Vernon will see No. 1 Nixa in Thursday’s semifinals. The Eagles beat unseeded Reeds Spring 73-45 on Wednesday.
The two teams haven’t met since 2015, but Ray and the ‘Neers are very much aware of what’s ahead of them.
“Nixa is Nixa and we know – along with Kickapoo – that they are maybe the premier program in the Ozarks. It’s a great honor for us. Mount Vernon has great tradition in the tournament. We’re going to do everything we can to compete and battle, but we also know in the big picture, when we get into conference and districts, playing someone like Nixa in that atmosphere will hopefully pay off for us eventually.”
Mt. Vernon 62, Hartville 56
Hartville 19 9 18 10 — 56
Mt. Vernon 24 12 17 9 — 62
Mt. Vernon – Kyle Bushman 13, Cale Miller 12, Ty Boswell 12, Cale Cornell 11, Kelly Vaughn 9, Mason Ballay 5
Hartville – Wyatt Ward 13, Wyatt Mahan 10, Ryce Piper 9, Evan Mathews 9, Brady Ward 7, Cody Kelley 5, Holton Simmons 3
