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By
Kevin Devaney Jr. The Journal News
• March 9, 2008
CORTLAND - Mount Vernon disposed of
Section 4 champion Binghamton in yesterday's Class AA regional final by
a healthy 93-72 margin, earning its eighth trip to the boys basketball
state final four in nine seasons.
Yet you would hardly know it by
watching the two-time defending state champs walk off the floor at SUNY
Cortland.
"This game is definitely not something
I'm going to harp on," Knights coach Bob Cimmino said. "If you would
have said to me yesterday that we're going to win by 21, nobody is going
to get injured and we'd be moving on to Glens Falls, I'd say, 'Sign me
up right now.' "
What Cimmino wouldn't have agreed to
was just how uninspired his team played through most of it.
The Knights (23-3) will have to
correct that before Saturday's semifinal, when it meets Section 2's
Bishop Maginn at 2:45 p.m. at the Glens Falls Civic Center in a rematch
of last year's title game. Mount Vernon is aiming for its fourth state
championship in five seasons.
Against Binghamton, the Knights'
overwhelming 29-point third quarter broke the game open en route to
their 18th win in 19 contests. The period was highlighted by an 18-2 run
after Mount Vernon had temporarily lost the lead.
But the rest of the game - and the
entire trip to Cortland, for that matter - was as forgettable as the
eight-hour round-trip bus ride through driving rainstorms.
"This was strictly business. There
wasn't much enjoyment here," Cimmino said. "We had a large physical
advantage and we just didn't play with the intensity needed to be a
state champion. We have to step it up in order to do that."
Kevin Jones scored 21 of his game-high
31 points in the second half after the Knights had taken just a
two-point lead into the break. The 6-foot-8 senior, who has signed with
West Virginia, added 14 rebounds for his 22nd double-double of the
season.
Sherrod Wright added 26 points and
eight rebounds against a Binghamton team that simply could not contend
with Mount Vernon in the paint for four quarters. The Knights had a
48-19 advantage in rebounding.
Vaughn Allen and Jordan Lessane, a
pair of juniors, were the difference in the third quarter. Allen had
seven of his 11 rebounds in the period, and Lessane had four of his six
steals.
"We came out shaky as a team in the
first half," Allen said. "Kevin and Sherrod are the two main people that
everybody talks about. Sometimes we have to take some of the pressure
off of them and pick up the slack."
As impressive as the third quarter
was, there were stretches throughout where the Knights seemed
uncharacteristically flat.
They opened up a 14-point lead in the
second quarter as point guard Ketema Brooks sliced through Binghamton's
defense and created opportunities for Jones and Wright. Brooks finished
with seven assists.
But Binghamton (16-6) simply
outhustled the Knights, consistently beating them down the floor and
scoring in transition.
It also helped the Patriots that Chris
Cartwright, their electric guard, buried two fadeaway 3-pointers. He had
10 of his 22 points in the second quarter, and Binghamton trailed just
33-31 at the half.
"We weren't pressuring them at all,"
Lessane said. "We felt that we needed to start to pressure them and get
just one good stop or a turnover."
Lessane kick-started Mount Vernon's
run on the defensive end. After Binghamton had taken a 36-35 lead on
Jimmy Gray's 3-pointer, Lessane came up with two quick steals that led
to Mount Vernon baskets, including his own three-point play.
Lessane helped Mount Vernon force 11
turnovers in the third quarter and take an 18-point lead in the fourth,
setting the stage for another postseason blowout.
But it never really came about. Mount
Vernon, which beat Minisink Valley of Section 9 by 40 in the regional
semifinal, saw its defensive intensity disappear in the fourth quarter.
It outscored Binghamton 31-28 in the period, most of which came on
fast-break lay-ups.
As Cimmino stated, if an effort like
yesterday's is repeated at Glens Falls, the Knights will see their reign
as state champs certainly end.
"Often with games like these, they're
necessary for a complete season," Cimmino said. "The result is fine. You
have to get those bad halves out of your system sometime." |
