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Mount Vernon junior Skylar Jones, who scored a game-high 29 points, throws down a one-handed dunk against Wakefield.

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By Angela Watts
Assistant GM, Washington D.C. Metro Area

** Click the links above to access a full photo gallery and dozens of video highlights from Tuesday's game!

A game that was well-played, well-coached and tightly-contested throughout at Wakefield High School ended in an extremely unusual fashion on Tuesday night: Without spectators.

Mount Vernon had only its junior varsity players in attendance when it picked up its 13th consecutive victory this season, defeating host Wakefield, 78-69, in a nearly empty gymnasium.

The vacated stands were the result of a brief, on-court clash in the fourth quarter that escalated into a wide-spread melee amongst fans. The games' officials then decided it best if the gym were cleared.

So Wakefield's administrative staff, along with members of Mount Vernon's administrative team, executed an orderly departure of each set of fans separately in an effort to avoid further incident.

"I've been coaching 18 years and I've never seen anything like this is my life," Warriors' Coach Tony Bentley said. "I've seen coaches get ejected, I've seen fans get ejected, I've seen players get ejected ... I've never seen a whole gym cleared."

Wakefield had rallied from a 14-point deficit midway through the third quarter and had pulled within 64-60 on two Jonathan Ford three throws with 4 minutes, 40 seconds to play. It was less than a minute later -- and just after two free throws by junior forward Skylar Jones had pushed the Majors' margin back to 66-60 -- when play was halted for nearly 30 minutes.

"You have two quality teams that want to win," Mount Vernon Coach Alfonso Smith said. "The players all want to compete and give it their all. And you've got fans from both sides that care about this game and want their teams to do well. A lot of these kids have been playing ball from their very first steps. So this game means something to this community and to our community. 

"We're having a pretty decent year; they want to beat us. And we always have a hard time playing in this gym. They're very well-coached and play hard. If you go to the basket they're going to contest every shot.

"And when a hard foul is required they're going to give a hard foul. It's basketball. It is basketball.

"But, in the context of that, they are kids and they don't quite have the handle on their emotions that we would like for them to have at all times. Unfortunately their emotions -- instead of the adults and all of the other people that were here helping tame them ... they were caught up in the game.

"They were passionate about it and they felt connected to it. So when chaos is breaking out they feel like being a part of that, too."

It was just after 10 p.m. when play resumed, and senior forward Robert Coleman converted a layup with 2:36 to play that pushed the Majors' lead back to 69-61. The Warriors answered with a three-pointer by senior guard Simeon Denny to close the gap to 69-64, but it proved too little, too late.

Mount Vernon sank 12 fourth-quarter free throws to seal the victory.

"The last three minutes of the game, with no one in the gym, I felt like I was back in 1991 when I was coaching freshmen at W&L," Bentley said. "No one was in the gym. And the momentum was just done. And, at the moment, we we're only down six and 'Uncle Mo' was on our side, ready to come and ready to go.

"Then ... boom. And it takes that all away."

The emotionally-charged second half underscored what was a fantastic first-half performance by the Majors, who were led by Jones' game-high 29 points.

Mount Vernon (15-4 overall, 10-0 National District) had three other players reach double-figures scoring on the night, including Coleman (16), senior guard Brian Green (12) and junior guard Robert Smith (10).

Ford paced the Warriors (13-6, 5-4) with a team-high 20 points, while senior guard Romeo Goffney added 12.

"I thought we had our best half of the season during the first half," Alfonso Smith said. "Our guys really care, that's something you can see about us. They care about winning; they don't want to lose. And they are buying into the fact that if we're not going to lose we have to do it together. It can't be a thing where we have one shining star who just has to do his thing every night. Last game we had 22 assists and I'm curious to know how many we had tonight. But we're sharing the ball well and putting guys into the right situations to be successful.

"We won a few games during this stretch where I don't think we played particularly well. But we've been playing better and better over the last few games."

Email: awatts@digitalsports.com

Mount Vernon  18  20  20  20 -- 78
Wakefield           9  17  23  20 -- 69

Mount Vernon -- Jones 11 7-9 29; Coleman 4 6-6 16; Green 3 5-8 12; Smith 2 6-6 10; Konadu 2 3-4 7; Ricks 1 2-5 4. Team totals: 23 30-38 78. Wakefield -- Ford 6 7-7 20; Goffney 5 0-0 12; Getu 2 3-3 8; Allen 3 0-1 6; Levenberry 3 0-0 6; Denny 1 2-4 5; Brown 2 0-4 4; Harris 2 0-0 4; Taylor 1 2-2 4. Team totals: 25 14-21 69. Three-pointers -- Mount Vernon 3 (Coleman 2, Green); Wakefield 5 (Goffney 2, Denny, Ford, Getu).