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Kevin Devaney Jr. • The Journal News •
January 10, 2008 WHITE PLAINS -
If there's been one criticism of Mount Vernon this season, it's that it
doesn't get enough scoring out of its backcourt. But when Kevin Jones is
controlling the paint, you don't need much else.
The West Virginia-bound big man
dominated the interior in Mount Vernon's 76-56 win at rival White Plains
yesterday. The 6-foot-8 Jones had 27 points and 15 rebounds as Mount
Vernon won the rematch of last year's Class AA championship,
outrebounding the Tigers by 21 and overcoming a stellar effort from Sean
Kilpatrick.
"The coaches emphasized that we had
just a great size advantage and we really wanted to crash the boards,"
Jones said. "That's why we were so successful today."
Sherrod Wright, a 6-5 forward, scored
16 of his 17 points in the first half and keyed an 11-0 run in the
second quarter that broke the game open, avenging last year's loss at
White Plains for the two-time defending Class AA state champions.
"The first thing on my mind when I got
here was getting revenge for last year," said Wright, a junior. "They
played hard and came out with the win last year. This time we just
played harder."
Kilpatrick dazzled the Division I
college coaches who turned out to watch him play, including St. John's
assistant Fred Quartlebaum, and head coaches Bobby Gonzalez (Seton
Hall), Karl Hobbs (George Washington), Matt Brady (Marist), and Barry
Rohrssen (Manhattan). Kilpatrick scored a career-high 33 points on
13-of-24 shooting, and reached 1,000 for his career. The 6-3 forward had
13 points in the first quarter, and scored 18 of his team's 23 points at
the half.
By that time, though, White Plains was
already down 17 points and headed for its 13th loss to Mount Vernon in
14 meetings.
"If we're not going to be more
aggressive, it's just not going to happen for us," said Kilpatrick, who
said he was offered a scholarship by St. John's after the game. "If we
could get an early lead on these guys, I think we'd be all right. But we
didn't come out and execute from the start."
Mount Vernon, which faces Paterson
Catholic (N.J.) on Sunday at Madison Square Garden, got plenty of
contributions from its backcourt yesterday, especially off the bench.
Backup guards Jabarie Hinds, a freshman, and Sean Harris each played
quality minutes. Harris hit a pair of 3-pointers, both on plays when the
defense collapsed inside on Jones.
For the guards to be more involved in
the offense, Knights coach Bob Cimmino said everything must start with
Jones and Wright inside.
"I'm putting the burden on them,"
Cimmino said. "We've got to do everything well to get the guards
involved. Sherrod and Kev can score their points, but they've got to
play a complete game. The better they get at doing that, the more
scoring we'll get from our guards."
White Plains didn't get much
consistency outside of Kilpatrick, one of only two returning starters.
The Tigers, whose other loss was in overtime to Peekskill in the Slam
Dunk final, will travel to Mount Vernon on Jan. 29.
Closing this 20-point gap won't be
easy.
"We need more balance, not just one
guy when you're playing a team like that," White Plains coach Spencer
Mayfield said. "We can't look that far ahead. We have to look to the
next practice, fix what's wrong and go to the next game. Because we have
a lot of work to do to close this gap." |
