By PAUL T. WILCOXEN

paul.wilcoxen@register-news.com

MT. VERNON — Coming off a loss that coach Scott Gamber had desperately wanted to win at Belleville Althoff, Mt. Vernon struggled for the first two-and-a-half quarters Saturday night, but a 10-0 run to end the third quarter had the Rams well on their way to a 68-50 win over Cairo at Changnon Gymnasium.

“The way that game was the first half, it could have gone either way,” said Gamber. “That was really big for us to be able to win that.

“We’ve got to win those. We need to go on a little run here.”

Early on it looked as if the Rams were going to run away with the victory.

After falling behind 2-0, Kellin Edwards started an 8-0 run with a three-pointer putting Mt. Vernon on the board.

Jacob Alvis pulled down an offensive rebound and Bryce Kujawa hit his first of a 4-for-7 right behind the arc as he hit a three to put the Rams ahead 8-2 early.

“We kind of hurt them inside against their zone,” said Gamber. “When they went man that really gave Bryce a lot of open looks.”

Melvin Johnson hit a free throw for the Pilots, but Kyle Martin responded with a three from the corner that gave the Rams an 11-3 lead.

To get back into the game Cairo used its speed and athleticism to outscore the Rams 18-10 in the second to take a 28-25 lead at intermission after falling behind 15-10 after one quarter.

“We were on the ropes the whole first half,” said Gamber. “At half time I told our guys that I thought they had shot the ball well. I thought we had not played well. To only be down three I felt like we were fortunate.”

After the two teams exchanged baskets inside to open the third quarter, Cairo’s William Thomas put the Pilots up five with a steal at mid-court and easy lay up with 6:39 left in the third.

Kevon Fortney led the Rams to a 6-0 run to take the lead 33-32 after pulling down an offense rebound before scoring inside on a nice assist credited to Ryan Quick with 5:40 remaining in the quarter.

Mt. Vernon took its first lead since 5:10 in the second when Alvis knocked down a 15-foot jumper from the baseline.

“I thought we played a great second half,” said Gamber. “Offensively we scored, but I think the main thing is we played a little better defensively. I think the first half we were gambling a little too much. We tried to zone thinking that would hurt them and that kind of hurt us.”

Cairo came back with baskets off of offensive rebounds on consecutive possessions to go up 36-33, but the Rams closed the third quarter on a 10-0 run to lead 43-36 after three quarters.

Martin opened the run with a basket and a free throw. Alvis converted inside, followed by a three from Quick and a drive to the hoop by Darrell Mitchell.

“I thought Darrell did great,” said Gamber. “A lot of guards would have a lot of trouble with their pressure and Darrell seems to always keep things under control. Defensively he did a good job.

“We got a lot of good minutes from a lot of guys. I thought Ryan made a few really good passes there late that got Bryce a shot, that got Jacob a shot.”

The Rams went on two runs of 8-0 and a run of 7-0 in the fourth quarter, which helped Mt. Vernon build a lead as large as 23 late in the game.

In the fourth, Kujawa was instrumental in getting the quarter started on the right foot for Mt. Vernon with threes at 7:08 and with six minutes to play.

“They were box-and-one-ing him the entire first half, the whole third quarter and I think as soon as we were able to score inside,” said Gamber. “That forced them to go man and that got him a lot of good looks, but a lot of it is just he finds a way to find a seam and he knocked down the shots.”

Kujawa led all scorers with 21 points. Alvis finished with 12 and pulled down eight boards before fouling out and Mitchell had 11.

“As bad as I felt we played in the first half, I thought we came back and had a nice second half,” said Gamber.

“We felt like we had a decent game plan going in the second half, but they hit a shot, got a couple stops and it was very nerve wrecking sitting on the bench. I think once we went on a little run that kind of relaxed everybody and we could go just play. It was more of them being on the defense.”

The Rams (8-7) will travel to Madison on Tuesday.