Cassville, Mo. (For OzarksSportsZone.com) -- Cassville stayed with visiting Mt. Vernon for a while. But a defensive change and some hot shooting helped the Mountaineers pull away for a 63-33 win Tuesday night and a 2-0 record in Big 8 play.
Sophomore point guard Luke Call was the leader of Mt. Vernon’s offense tonight as he hit for 19 points including three shots from 3-point range.
“Luke can really shoot the basketball and it’s paying off.” said Mt. Vernon head coach Skip Brock. Brock also noted Call’s improvement so far. “He’s making better decisions in the open floor and seems to be progressing every game. He’s only a sophomore and sometimes we have to remind ourselves of that.”
Early on it seemed like Mt. Vernon would have an easy time from the very beginning as they jumped out to an 8-0 lead with Chandler Myers scoring six of those points in the paint. But Cassville would step up their defense, get on the board, and would finish the first quarter down 12-6.
Then it was Cassville’s turn to get a fast start as Garrett Kirk and junior Ethan Lowery would find success in the paint to help draw the Wildcats within two points midway through the period. Brock decided to make a change by going to a 2-3 zone.
“They had a stretch where they really hurt us 2 or 3 straight possessions. I thought maybe it would change it up and get them out of rhythm a little bit and it worked. We got a couple of stops and then started making some shots.”
The big blows came from distance as first Zane Phillips, then Call, then sophomore guard Braden Adams each hit from outside the arc to outscore Cassville 20-7 the remainder of the quarter and stake the Mountaineers to a 34-19 lead at the half.
Any thought of a comeback was put to rest in the third quarter as Mt. Vernon would outscore the Wildcats 17-4. Cassville head coach Danny Powers cited the Mountaineers transition game as a key.
“We sped ourselves up, took some bad shots, and anytime you do that against Mt. Vernon the ball is going to be up the floor going the other way and they’re going to be getting some good looks.” said Powers. “You gotta give Mt. Vernon a lot of credit. They’re a very good team.”
The Mountaineers again had a balanced scoring attack as Shane Williams added 15 points and Myers 12 to go along with Call’s game high 19. For Cassville, only Kirk made it into double figure scoring with 10 points.
Mt. Vernon goes to 2-0 in Big 8 conference play and will take on East Newton at Home Friday. Cassville falls to 0-2 in the conference and will visit Lamar Friday.
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