Knights Unravel
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- January
- 27
“They gave us five pizza pies and a few meatball heroes. Those are the only good things we’ll take out of tonight’s game.”
—Mount Vernon coach Bob Cimmino after tonight’s unsettling 60-53 loss at Linden (N.J.)
As much as I laugh thinking about that comment, it’s completely true. Mount Vernon lost a game tonight that it should have won… and it strung together more turnovers, defensive lapses and poor decisions than I had seen the Knights make in a tight game in a long time.
I recorded a podcast on my drive home from the game, which is below. It’s only about six minutes long. I’ve never done one like this. If you guys like it, I’ll do it more often. It was pretty fun and made the drive go by fast.
Anyway, in short: Linden deserved to win tonight and Mount Vernon didn’t. Linden’s two star players — point guard Desmond Wade, who’s headed to Houston, and 6-foot-9 David Bruce — saved their best basketball for the fourth quarter. The Knights collectively saved their worst. They led for most of the game before letting the emotion of a sellout crowd and television audience take over. Wade scored 12 of his game-high 21 points in the final period and carried his team to the victory.
Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t exactly a bad loss. Mount Vernon played bad in the fourth quarter. But it wasn’t a bad loss in the grand scheme. Linden is “the Mount Vernon of New Jersey” according to some, a large public school that contends every year and churns out quality players. Were they better than Mount Vernon? They were tonight, and that’s all that matters.
I could tell immediately that this was a disciplined, well-coached team. Watching so much basketball as I do, I define good coaching based on how players move without the basketball and how they defend. There’s a big difference between AAU defense and quality high school defense. These guards tonight were always in a good stance, using their feet and being active with their hands. It reminded me a lot of the way White Plains defends in the backcourt. Always active.
Mount Vernon dealt with the pressure, meaning it didn’t turn the ball over too much in the first three quarters. The turnovers in the fourth quarter can be attributed to not handling the pressure of the pro-Linden crowd or magnitude of the game well. There was a slight sense of panic on some possessions; a sense of desperation on the others.
Kevin Jones and Sherrod Wright did their best to carry the Knights again. Each scored 18 points and Jones had 13 rebounds and six blocks. But Ketema Brooks, who played excellent defense on Wade in the first 24 minutes, struggled to create offense in the fourth and fouled out on a reckless drive to the basket. There was still 1:45 left and Mount Vernon was only down four. But it took all the air out of the Knights.
Mount Vernon will survive and likely sweep through White Plains, New Rochelle and Long Island Lutheran this week. I wouldn’t be alarmed by this loss. When you play this much great competition and are constantly in close games down to the wire, you’re going to win some and lose some. The Knights beat Paterson Catholic and Union. They lost to Mason County (Kent.) and Rice.
Linden is a two-time state champion in New Jersey, so there’s absolutely no shame in losing to them. It’s just the way it happened that stings a little.
This entry was posted
on Sunday, January 27th, 2008 at 12:10 am by Kevin Devaney Jr..
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iTunes
I agree MV didn’t deserve to win but it’s still a very disappointing loss. It always is when you lose and you didn’t play your best.
Good job on the podcast Kev I enjoyed it!
I liked the podcast. I would definately enjoy listening to more podcasts like that, maybe you can record some parts of your interviews with players and coaches and include those clips on future podcasts. That would be cool.
Hey, who saw coburn on sporstcenter tonight
You have to give Mt. Vernon credit for going on the road to a hostile place- They are still the best team in the area and one of only a few teams that will play top competition outside of the section. They will still make it to the Federations Finals-
Sec1 fan,
I saw him play live on ESPN during the Rutgers-Pitt game last night.
There were a couple series’s where Coburn and Benjamin were guarding each other, which I thought was pretty cool.
Glad you enjoyed the podcast. I’ll do more like this in the future. I had technical trouble with it in the past so I couldn’t post them easily. I figured it out and will have no trouble.
I’ll also post interviews in the future when necessary.
I saw the game on MSG this morning. Mount Vernon beat themselves with all the turnovers. They did a good job on the boards but missed a lot of shots. K. Brooks turned the ball over too many times in the fourth qtr. and fouled out with 0 points. He did play good defense on Wade for 3 quarters though. I think MV is the better team but just didn’t manage to pull off the W last night.
Linden is a tough place for a road team to win. Linden beat #1 nationally ranked St Patricks last year at home. The only team that has gone into Linden to get a win, was St Anthony’s. This is a game that should have been played on a neutral court.
Mt Vernon sometimes has problems in a set offense. They don’t have Mike Coburn to break a team down in transition, to get some easy baskets. Ketema Brooks is content on pulling the ball back, pounding it into the floor and forcing Mt Vernon to be a perimeter team. That causes droughts in scoring, and missed opportunities. Also Mt Vernon has athletic players, but is guided by the wrong point guard, who relegates Sherrod Wright and Kevin Jones to be jump shooters.
Jordan Lassane and Jabarie Hinds are both capable of creating something in transition. They are both finishers, and I believe should be guiding the team. Ketema Brooks can play defense, so I am not dismissing him altogether, but he is playing like he did last year. Bring the ball up to the top of the key, back the ball back towards halfcourt, give the opposition time to dig in, then start the offense. I am not saying anything that Coach Ciminno is not seeing, so I am no genious. I know that Mr Ciminno with his knowledge of the game is not happy with what is going on, and I will not be surprised to see some major changes.
Jayden
I went to see Louglin and Christ the King- CHSAA AA BQ League Game- Very impressed with the two sophs on Loughlin-The guard named Lamb on Louglin is a scoring machine already as a soph- Louglin was one of the most athletic teams I have seen in some time- Christ the King with their PG going to Florida looked good and they have a great home court- St. Rays plays Loughlin in Brooklyn in three weeks which should be a great game-
I would not be surprised if Mt. Vernon sees Loughlin in the Federations – They will give Rice trouble
Iona Power,
Loughlin is another CHSAA team that can make it to the Federation game. This is some year for the AA division, and I would not be surprised to see any team up in Glens Falls.
The CHSAA has the bye this year in the Federation tournament, which means the NYSPHSAA will meet the PSAL, and the winner will meet the CHSAA. It is nice that you suggest that Mt Vernon will beat the PSAL team.
We will see.
I watched Lincoln vs Holy Cross on MSG earlier. Lance Stevenson is the complete package and Lincoln is big and fast. I think Rice is the best team in NY, but Stevenson is the best player. Mt. Vernon will have it’s hands full and will need to play their best basketball if they get there.
My NY Top 5 (right now)
1. Rice
2. Lincoln
3. CTK
4. St Raymonds
5. Mt. Vernon
Jayden-
I have a feeling that Boys & Girls will upset Lincoln- I think Mt. Vernon would match up better against Boys & Girls because Lincoln could presnet some inside match up problems and also Kevin Jones would probably have to contain Stephenson which could take away his offensive game- I hope Mt. Vernon beats either one because they are probably the worse recruiting schools along with Cardozo.
Stay Well.
Iona Power,
Boys and Girls beating Lincoln? That would be a major upset. Boys and Girls is not nearly the team I thought they would be. I think Lincoln has the best chance of making it to the Federation game than any team in the NYSPHSAA and The CHSAA. They are heads and shoulders above any PSAL team.
By the way Lance Stephenson matched up against Kevin Jones in last Fall’s IS8 tournament and got tourched for 43. Kevin Jones is a bad matchup for Lance.