By Jordan Burton (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Entering his ninth season at Mount Vernon, Mike Ray’s group will have a different feel this winter.
The Mountaineers are coming off a 17-7 campaign and will have to replace three starters from last year’s team, including All-Everything guard Mason Ballay. Ballay helped MV to 75 wins over the last four years, including a district championship.
“Mason is a significant loss for us on many levels,” said Ray. “From an offensive standpoint he was an excellent 3-point shooter (40%) and that forced defenses to stretch out and improved our spacing for everyone else. In addition, he was a key playmaker for us that drew the attention of multiple defenders and he was willing to pass up some shots for guys to get an easier shot. On defense, he was a great communicator on the court and was able to get everyone in the right position, so all those skills will be missed by us. However the main thing he brought to our team that he had witnessed with previous great players here at Mt. Vernon is a tremendous pride in our program and the work ethic it takes to become a great player. We all talk about doing the work but he was one of the few kids who did the work. That is something that we have had in our program for some time and he was able to be a guardian of our culture and help grow it. Those types of kids do not come around every day. It is my hope that we will h
ave other younger players who will pick up the torch and carry it forward for our program.”
Looking to carry the torch forward this year is a quartet of seniors that have big-game experience in a variety of sports.
Kai Brown – a 6-foot-1 guard – averaged 15 points and four assists as a junior. He is one of the top returners in the Big 8.
“Kai has come a long way in the past two years,” said Ray. “Really as a sophomore he became a key player for us and was an excellent defender. Last year, he grew his offensive game and was a consistent scorer for us. For him he will draw more attention this year without a proven 2nd scorer so we need him to be aggressive on the offensive end but maintain a balance to get others involved. That will take time and some growing pains but I believe he will find that balance for us. In addition he will need to expand his game to become the leader and key communicator for us on defense. He has had a great summer playing for us and the Kings organization and I believe he will be one of the better guards in southwest Missouri.”
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Brown will be joined by 6-foot-3 forward Tristan Jones, who averaged 5.2 points and 6.2 rebounds last year. Classmate Dominic Dawson – a 6-foot-3 big – added 2.5 points and 4.2 rebounds. Senior guard Sam Herbert is also back for the ‘Neers.
Ray is also excited about what he’s seen from his newcomers.
Juniors Clayton Turner and Caleb Rinker will add guard depth. Sophomore Landon Jones is a 6-foot-4 athlete that will provide some size, while classmate Layton Pendleton gives the program another tough guard. Freshmen Gavin Johnston, Jarrett Zerby, Julian Hernandez and Grayson Gann will all be in the mix for varsity minutes.
This group has pockets of inexperience, but this is yet another talented Mount Vernon team that expects to compete for conference and district championships.
“For us to compete this year we are going to have to become an elite defensive team,” said Ray. “This is going to require some younger players having to step up and face the challenge physically and mentally to compete on the defensive end every possession. We also have to find other scorers to step up to help Kai. I believe Jones can raise his game a lot this year but we still need others to consistently be a threat on the offensive end. Lastly, we face a challenging schedule and will do so with some younger players and we have to look to improve each and every day and keep focusing on the fact that we want to be the best team we can be in February and March.”
Mount Vernon will travel to Carl Junction for a jamboree with the Bulldogs and Carthage on Nov. 19 before opening the 2021-22 regular season on Nov. 30 at Monett.
