Rams get even with ’Cats in huge way

MVTHS 55, Marion 34

By JOHN ROARK

john.roark@register-news.com

MT. VERNON — Given a lone pre-holiday chance to make an impression at home, Kevon Fortney and the Mt. Vernon Township High School boys basketball team didn’t disappoint Friday night in its South Seven Conference opener.

Fortney and the Rams — using a 1-3-1 zone defense early to slow down Marion’s inside duo of Aaron Adeoye and Bryan Waldrop — took a solid second-half shot from the Wildcats and then quickly pulled away in the fourth quarter to post a 55-34 romp in Changnon Gymnasium.

MVTHS, playing its only home game before the Christmas break, gained a note of revenge after losing to Marion a week ago in the Pyramid Plus tournament in Herrin.

Fortney — who has been playing lights-out since sitting out the season opener for disciplinary reasons — was a one-man wrecking crew for Scott Gamber’s club (4-2, 1-0).

Fortney threw in a game-high 20 points, but he was so much more than his scoring prowess. Time and time again, the junior guard was on the scene, either coming up with a steal or even an offensive rebound.

Name it, Fortney did it, save for cleaning the floor at halftime.

“Kevon was rebounding, getting tips, getting deflections, steals, attacking the basket,” Gamber said. “He was everything tonight. Kevon has been our sparkplug that we’ve been lacking. He can be a real good player if he keeps working.”

Fortney was disrupting everything Marion (4-2, 0-1) tried to do out front, as the Rams sagged and trapped out of the 1-3-1 look.

Marion held leads of 2-0 and 4-2, but the Rams quickly wiped it out a 12-2 run that featured a bevy of Marion floor errors.

“We kicked it around all night long,” Marion coach Aaron Mattox said. “We have to value the basketball better, especially against a team that is possession-oriented like Mt. Vernon.”

During the pivotal run, Ian Randolph slipped backdoor for a basket before he and Fortney teamed to strip the basketball from Wildcats point guard Tim Mieldezis. Randolph fed Fortney for the layup, giving the Rams a 6-4 lead.

Mieldezis promptly tied the game at 6-all, but MVTHS closed the quarter in an 11-2 run. Kellin Edwards scored seven of his 13 points during the stretch, including a buzzer-beating 3-pointer which left the King City ahead 17-8 at the first stop.

The teams played to a 5-5 standoff in the second quarter, and halftime arrived with Edwards missing all three free-throw attempts after being fouled in the act of shooting a trey.

“We had a ton of energy at the outset,” Gamber said, “and we were up nine (22-13) at the half, but I felt like we were down nine. We allowed Marion to hang around.”

Mattox decided to counter with a bigger lineup against the Rams’ gimmick zone, putting 6-7 sophomore Jared Ellis into the mix alongside the 6-6 Adeoye and 6-5 Waldrop.

For much of the third period, the strategy worked. Troy Stucky, who hurt the Rams in the first meeting, buried a 3-pointer before Adeoye scored inside and Waldrop cashed a rebound basket, cutting the deficit to 24-21 with 5:55 left in the third.

“We decided to switch to man after that,” Gamber said. “That seemed to energize us a little more.”

Then, Gamber’s offense came up big, when Edwards and Murphy buried consecutive 3-balls and Fortney scored on a strong move off the left baseline.

Suddenly, the Rams led again by double digits, 32-21.

“That was the turnaround in the game,” Gamber said. “We hit the two 3-pointers and then got a layup.”

Marion managed two more treys (Stucky and Waldrop) to narrow the gap to 32-27 by the third stop, but the fourth period was all Rams, who took advantage of Marion’s sloppy play to outscored the visitors 23-7 down the stretch.

Not only were the Wildcats committing unforced turnovers, but they also fouled in frustration in the second half, many of their personals being called under their own basket.

“We just continued to foul (13 personals),” Mattox said, “and it kept causing issue after issue for us in the second half. We also just kept throwing the ball away. Credit Mt. Vernon for their defense, but a lot of our mistakes were unforced. Perhaps we should have stayed big once we started seeing man-to-man.”

The fourth period was more or less a lead-widening parade to the foul stripe for the Rams, who sank 14 of 27 free tosses to just 3 of 8 for Marion.

An 11-0 run which carried through the late stages of the game salted the verdict away.

Fortney’s 20 points led all scorers. Edwards added 13, Randolph nine.

Though he didn’t score, forward Ashtun Rush held Adeoye to 12 points despite having so sit out with foul trouble.

“Ashtun does a lot of things defensively for us,” Gamber said. “He’s as important to be on the floor for us as anyone else.”

No other Wildcat was in double figures.

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Mt. Vernon 55, Marion 34

Marion 8 5 14 7—34

MtVernon 17 5 10 23—55

MARION (4-2, 0-1)

Stucky 2 1-2 7, Mieldezis 1 1-2 3, Luckett 0 0-0 0, Clark 0 0-0 0, Adeoye 6 0-2 12, Powe 1 0-0 2, Waldrop 3 1-2 8, Swinford 1 0-0 2. Totals 14 3-8 34

MARION (4-2, 1-0)

Edwards 4 3-8 13, Fortney 7 6-9 20, Tucker 1 2-2 4, Murphy 2 2-4 7, Randolph 4 1-4 9, Gordon 1 0-0 2. Totals 19 14-27 55

3-point goals — Marion 3 (Stucky 2, Waldrop). Mt. Vernon 3 (Edwards 2, Murphy). Team fouls — Marion 24, Mt. Vernon 11. Technical foul — Luckett. Preliminary: Mt. Vernon, 41-29.

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