By JOHN ROARK

john.roark@register-news.com

MT. VERNON — After watching Mt. Vernon’s Rams shave a twin-digit lead to a measly two points Friday night in Changnon Gymnasium, Althoff coach Greg Leib realized something was amiss. That’s when he turned and noticed point guard Alex Mumphard still sitting on the bench.

Problem solved, and crisis averted for the South Seven Conference leaders.

Immediately inserted on the next dead ball, Mumphard turned the game around with his skill set.

The diminutive Mumphard promptly dished consecutive assists, scored nine points in the final 6:50, and was fully engaged in his team’s 19-4 final punch, good for a 55-38 league win against Scott Gamber’s Rams.

Althoff improved to 10-4 overall, 4-0 in the league, while the Rams slipped to 6-7 overall and now has lost three of four conference games.

The Rams, who fell behind 10-0 at the outset, made a long scrap in the middle quarters, thanks to the play of guards Kevon Fortney and Kellin Edwards, and the 3-point shooting of Logan Murphy.

The Rams, who trailed 16-6, 26-20 and 36-31 at the first three stops, finally got the game where they needed it when Edwards buried a 3-pointer off the right side with 7:07 remaining, cutting the deficit to 36-34.

Eighteen Althoff turnovers also played a part in the Rams’ comeback bid.

Mt. Vernon then slapped the ball out of bounds with 6:52 remaining under the Althoff basket, and that’s when Leib turned to Mumphard for the game-changing move.

On the ensuing inbounds play, Mumphard lobbed the ball to 6-9 center Joe Harms, who scored off the pass. Mumphard then grabbed a long rebound and dribbled the distance, and Harms, an Austin Peay signee, went with him, taking a pass and hitting a transition layup.

“We let Harms get into our defense,” Gamber said. “They lobbed it up, he scored. It got to four, the next possession we came down and take a bad, bad shot ... When you cut it to two and four (points) is when you have to get really, really patient and stingy with the ball, and make sure you get a great shot.”

Althoff’s Devin Griffin then came up with a steal and fed David Franklin for an easy hoop, and the Crusaders had blown a two-point lead to 42-34 in just more than two minutes.

Gamber called timeout, but Althoff got another basket — from Carson Sonnenberg — finishing an 8-0 run that helped put the game away. Althoff also scored the game’s final 11 points. Combined with their 10-0 start, the Crusaders owned a 21-0 bookend for Mt.Vernon to deal with.

“We knew we couldn’t bang away with Mt. Vernon,” said Leib, a former Flora standout. “We had to get some run-out baskets, and we did.”

Gamber said the game got away from his team because of bad shots leading to long rebounds.

“Most of (Althoff’s) easy baskets were off shots we shouldn’t have taken,” Gambersaid, “And on those shots, the rebounds went deep. They beat us in transition that way. When we got it close, it turned ugly in a hurry.”

The Vernois, after falling behind early, actually outplayed Althoff for the middle part of the game, but became unnerved when crunch time arrived.

In addition, the Rams shot just two free throws, but Gamber placed that stat squarely on his team’s shoulders, not the officials.

“We didn’t get the ball to where we needed to in order to draw fouls,” Gamber said. “The free-throw disparity has more to do with us than anything else.”

Mumphard scored 16 points to top all scorers, Harms adding 12 for Althoff.

“To have a guard make reads like that he does is a nice luxury,” Leib said. “He’s one of those kids that you take a lot for granted.”

Gamber agreed.

“Harms is tough, but every coach I’ve spoken to says Mumphard is the key to their team,” Gamber said. “To me, he’s been the MVP of any team I’ve seen.”

Fortney scored 14, Edwards 11 for the Rams, who must take on another tough customer in Breese Central today at 4:45 p.m. in the Centralia Shootout.

Althoff 55, MVTHS 38

Althoff 16 10 10 19—55

MVTHS 6 14 11 7—38

ALTHOFF (10-4, 4-0)

Griffin 2 4-4 8, Mumphard 6 2-3 16, Hanger 1 0-1 2, Sonnenberg 3 2-3 8, Greene 1 0-0 3, Franklin 3 0-0 6, Harms 6 0-2 12. Totals 22 8-13 55

MVTHS (6-7, 1-3)

Gordon 1 0-0 2, Edwards 5 0-0 11, Fortney 7 0-0 14, Tucker 1 0-2 2, Murphy 3 0-0 9, Randolph 1 0-0 2. Totals 17 0-2 38

3-point goals — Althoff 3 (Mumphard 2, Greene), Mt. Vernon 4 (Murphy 3, Edwards). Team fouls — Althoff 6, Mt. Vernon 12. Preliminary: MVTHS, 47-38