By Ethan Wenz

On February 12, the Center Point Urbana Stormin’ Pointers came to Mount Vernon for a trio of boys basketball contest. For the Junior Varsity Mustangs, Mount Vernon brought the Storm to Center Point. Mount Vernon quickly struck first with a mid range jump shot by Nick Lengwin. The Mustangs frequently came up with strong rebounds and pushed the ball up the court to start offense. Center Point turned the ball over often when Mount Vernon jumped passing lanes and forced steals.

Assists were coming easy to the Mustangs especially when Cam Butterbaugh dished a bullet pass to Nick Leopold about 23 feet out from the basket. Leopold made the basket with ease and quickly hustled back to get on defense and prepare for the next play.

Mount Vernon while playing intense defense, routinely fouled Center Point, putting them in the bonus before the first quarter ended. At the end of the first Mount Vernon was up 21-6. To close out the first the Pointers launched a prayer shot from ¾ court that surprisingly went in however did not count after the no shot call from the officials. Nick Lengwin explained as he went to the locker room at halftime, that he expects Center point to change something to mix up how the game has been going.

To open the second quarter Center Point came out in a 2-3 zone offense hoping to stop the Mustangs from driving to the basket. Nick Leopold noticed this style of defense and exploited it. The mid range jump shot was Leopold’s best friend. Hitting several in the second quarter alone he had the hot hand and the Pointers could not stop him.

Center Point adopted an aggressive defense to shut down the shooting especially from Leopold. Enter Cale Snedden. From perfect 3 pointers to a hop step, acrobatic layup, he got the job done to help push the lead to 42-20 by the end of the half.

Mount Vernon emphasizes strong defense with a big time highlight block by Cale Snedden. They recovered and caused many turnovers in the second half. “We stayed consistent through the game and they couldn’t stop our well oiled machine called offense” explained lengwin after the victory. Garrett Welch joins Snedden and Leopold in the top offensive leaders of the game and carry the Mustangs to a strong 73-57 win over the Center Point Urbana Stormin’ Pointers.