Forward Kai Blanco is honored during a pre-game ceremony for the three Mount Vernon seniors.
Sophomore sensation Antonio Harris, Jr. (center) hit four three-pointers on his way to a game-high 23 points.
By Phil Murphy
DigitalSports.com
**The video player below the story contains all the game highlights and post-game interviews.**
On a Senior Night in Alexandria littered with whistles, soon-to-be graduates
Ryan O'Dell and
Marquel DeLancey combined for 30 points in No. 9
Mount Vernon's 76-72 win over
Stuart. The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Raiders.
Conversely, the Majors (14-6 overall, 10-1 National District) have won seven consecutive games and, with Friday's victory, have clinched the regular-season district championship and a bye in first round of the upcoming district tournament.
"I think [the first-round bye] will help us," said O'Dell, who scored a team-high 17 points.
"We'll get some rest, we need it. We've been working hard ... I want that trophy.”
A relatively clean first half resulted in a 34-29 Stuart advantage as the teams left the Skinner Fieldhouse floor. Between the usually strong shooting squads, there was only one more three-pointer made in the game by half time than there was in the now-famous Roy Rogers half-court shot contest during the intermission – one each by Raiders
Antonio Harris, Jr. (game-high 23 points),
William Ford (11 points) and the 50-dollar winner, Mount Vernon Maniac
C.J. Jackson (zero official points).
Trailing by five, the Majors opened the third period on a 13-1 run. A scoring surge Mount Vernon coach
Alfonso Smith says is a testament, somewhat counter-intuitively, to defense rather than offense.
"In a very nice way, we asked the guys to pick it up," said a smiling Smith, whose Majors led 52-50 after three quarters. "We asked as nicely as we could and they responded."
After six quick points by Harris, a sophomore guard, created a 61-58 Raider advantage in the final quarter, Mount Vernon held Stuart without a field goal for over four minutes.
"We clamped down defensively," Smith said. "Our rebounds improved.
Skylar Jones had zero rebounds – we called him out on that. Zero rebounds in the first half and he finished with almost ten in the second."
The teams spent most of the second half in foul trouble. The Majors and the Raiders (12-7, 6-4) were both in the bonus before the start of the fourth quarter. Thirty-seven of the combined 53 free throw attempts in the game came after half time. With a recent, likely season-ending injury to starting guard
Dominique Kosh, Stuart could ill-afford the added burden of having to sit players with fouls.
"We try to talk to them through it, but it's tough," said second-year Stuart coach
Antonio Harris, Sr., who has already tripled his team's win total from a year ago. "We're a program on the rise. We know we're not going to get a lot of the calls. People aren't used to us playing well.
"We try to work our way through it, ignore that part and just do what we're supposed to do."
This was the second of two physically and emotionally intense games between the district rivals in the last month. Mount Vernon defeated Stuart on the road, 72-66, in double overtime on Jan. 15.
"We know we have to let that go," Harris said. "We know the most important part is getting to the district tournament and winning the district tournament. The regular season is nice, but it's just a glorified practice."
These notably young teams are undoubtedly a rivalry to watch in the coming seasons and will feature many similar faces – they have only four combined seniors on their collective rosters. Mount Vernon, though, will be satisfied with nothing less than a postseason run
this year.
"We are just trying to get towards our peak. We're not quite there yet," Smith said. "We have some things we need to tweak. But I think our guys are hungry. And with that hunger, particularly in a fairly young team, we’re very optimistic."
Email: pmurphy@digitalsports.com
Stuart 20 14 16 22 -- 72
No. 9 Mt. Vernon 13 16 23 24 -- 76Stuart -- Harris, Jr. 6 7-10 23; Watson 6 4-5 16; Ibrahim 4 5-5 13; Ford 3 4-6 11; Champ 1 3-4 5; Zaman 2 0-0 4. Team totals: 22 23-30 72.
Mt. Vernon -- O'Dell 6 4-4 17; Coleman 6 2-8 14; DeLancey 6 1-4 13; Jones 6 0-0 12; Smith 2 5-6 9; Green 4 0-0 8; Blanco 1 1-4 3. Team totals: 31 13-23 76.
Three-pointers -- Stuart 5 (Harris, Jr. 4, Ford); Mt. Vernon 1 (O'Dell).