Rams romp; advance to consolation semifinals

Centralia Holiday Tournament

By JEREMY HALL

jeremy.hall@register-news.com

CENTRALIA — On the second day of the Centralia Holiday Tournament, Mt. Vernon picked on someone its own size.

A day after losing to a Champaign Central team that rallied around 6-foot, 8-inch sophomore Jay Simpson, the Rams faced a Houston (Tenn.) team whose tallest player stood 6-4. The result was a 57-31 win that snapped a five-game losing skid at Centralia’s gym and pushed the Rams into today’s consolation semifinals.

Mt. Vernon will play Salem 10 a.m. today at Kaskaskia College, with the winner advancing to the 6 p.m. consolation championship game at Centralia High School.

Against Houston, of Germantown (Tenn.), the Rams pulled away in the third quarter and converted a double-digit lead into a blowout. It was in sharp contrast to Monday’s loss to Central in a game that saw Mt. Vernon lose a 17-point lead with less than two minutes left in the third quarter.

The Rams led 22-21 at halftime before using a 19-4 third-quarter spurt to take control of the game.

“Thank goodness for the second half because the first half was a struggle,” said Mt. Vernon (6-5) coach Scott Gamber. “It was nice for our guys to play well in the second half, to get a little confidence.”

Kellin Edwards started the Rams’ third-quarter push with a 3-pointer before Ashtun Rush scored inside to give Mt. Vernon a 27-21 lead less than three minutes into the second half. After a conventional 3-point play by the Mustangs (2-9), Eric Fowler converted the same for the Rams. Edwards scored on a driving layup and Logan Murphy knocked down a 3-pointer as Mt. Vernon flew ahead 35-24 with less than two minutes left in the third quarter.

Houston closed its deficit to 10 points on a free throw by R.J. Tutton, but Edwards stretched the Rams’ lead to 41-25 by making two more 3-pointers in the final minute of the period.

“It was all about getting momentum and confidence in yourself,” said Edwards, who led all scorers in the game with 19 points. “When you get that a lot of balls go in for you.”

Edwards scored 11 points in the third quarter on 4-of-5 shooting.

“He really got it going for us,” said Gamber. “He hit some big shots. He kind of got our energy going.”

Unlike on Monday, the Rams never let up against Houston. The Mustangs had a scoreless drought of 5 minutes, 59 seconds in the second half and went 10 minutes, 13 seconds between their first and second field goals of the final half. Houston missed 10 straight shot attempts during their dry spell and committed 20 turnovers for the game.

The Rams kept rolling, scoring 20 unanswered points in the second half. Kevon Fortney scored on a stickback of his own missed shot and then added a steal and layup to give Mt. Vernon a 20-point lead. From there, the rout was on. Cameron Tucker scored twice inside before Fortney scored on a layup following an Edwards steal. Edwards made a pair of free throws after an Ashtun Rush steal and Fortney scored again in transition to cap the 20-0 scoring run. Tucker later scored inside to give the Rams a 57-26 lead with 3:20 left in the game.

Keeping their foot on the pedal was a talking point for Mt. Vernon throughout the game.

“After yesterday, you know you can never be too confident and sure about what’s going to happen in a game,” said Edwards. “So we just kept attacking and hitting shots, letting the game come to us and playing good defense.”

The blowout win was slow in developing, as Houston scored the game’s first six points and made all three of its first-quarter shot attempts — all from beyond the 3-point line — to stake to a 9-6 lead.

Mt. Vernon warmed in the second quarter, making five of six field goal attempts at the onset and pulling ahead 19-12. Edwards’ first 3-pointer of the game gave the Rams their first lead, 11-9, while his second gave Mt. Vernon a 16-12 lead midway through the second quarter.

The Rams pulled ahead 19-12 before Houston rallied to within a point with less than two minutes left in the first half. Fortney scored three more points to give Mt. Vernon a 22-18 lead. Keith Collins sank a half-court shot at the buzzer to pull the Mustangs to within 22-21 at halftime.

In addition to his 19 points, Edwards tallied five rebounds, four assists and two steals, while blocking one shot. Fortney added 16 points while leading the Rams with seven rebounds. Tucker, who did not play on Monday due to a medical issue, came off the bench and finished with 12 points. Tutton paced Houston with 14 points.

In Tuesday’s other morning-session game, Salem got past Chicago Marist in overtime to advance to today’s consolation semifinals.



Mt. Vernon 57, Houston (Tenn.) 31

Mt. Vernon 6 16 19 16—57

Houston 9 12 4 6—31

MT. VERNON (6-5)

Edwards 6-10 2-2 19, Fortney 7-11 2-4 16,Tucker 5-7 2-2 12, Fowler 1-3 1-1 3,Murphy 1-5 0-0 3, Rush 1-2 0-0 2, Gordon 1-1 0-0 2, Payne 0-0 0-0 0, Tyririmble 0-1 0-0 0, Brooks 0-0 0-0 0, Stehley 0-0 0-0 0, TyreTrimble 0-2 0-0 0, Johnson 0-1 0-0 0, Cummings 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 22-45 7-9 57.

HOUSTON (2-9)

Tutton 4-8 4-9 14, Collins 2-7 0-0 6, Lynn 2-8 1-3 6, Brooks 1-5 0-0 3, R. Hampton 1-1 0-0 0,Jackson 0-4 0-0 0, H. McKnatt 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 10-37 5-12 31.

3-point goals: Mt. Vernon 6-17 (Edwards 5-8, Fortney 0-2, Murphy 1-5, Tyril Trimble 0-1, Johnson 0-1) Houston 6-20 (Tutton 2-2, Collins

2-5, Lynn 1-3, Brooks 1-3, Jackson 0-3, McKnatt 0-4). REBOUNDS: Mt. Vernon 22 (Fortney 7), Houston 19 (Tutton 10). FOULS: Mt. Vernon 12, Houston 11.

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