MADISON TOWNSHIP — Overtime was Cole Rapp time Friday at Madison Middle School.
Mount Vernon’s 6-foot senior guard scored six of his nine points in OT as the Yellow Jackets rallied for a 55-51 victory over the Rams in the Ohio Cardinal Conference opener for both teams.
The Jackets (3-0, 1-0) outscored Madison (0-2, 0-1) 13-9 in the four-minute extra session. Rapp did all of his damage from the free throw line, going 6-for-6 from the charity stripe in the final minute.
“We spend a lot of time working on free throw shooting every day in practice and when you get into overtime, you have to make your free throws to win,” said Rapp, whose only other points came on a 3-pointer midway through the first quarter. “My role isn’t as one of our main scorers, but if I get to the free throw line at the end of the game, I’ve got to knock them down.”
Nearly two minutes ticked off the clock in OT before Kaden Daniels gave Mount Vernon a 44-42 lead with a layup. Madison’s Kyle Jackson hit a pair of free throws with 1:43 remaining to tie the score at 44-44.
A Collin Barteau 3-pointer with 1:25 remaining gave the Jackets the lead for good. Rapp hit both ends of a one-and-one with 58.7 seconds left to give Mount Vernon a 49-44 lead before Jackson knocked down on a trey with 46 seconds left to make it 49-47. Rapp then connected on both ends of a one-and-one with 38 seconds left and hit two more freebies with 19 seconds to play for a 53-47 lead.
A Jackson layup with 11 second left made it 53-49, but Barteau iced it with a pair of free throws with 8.9 seconds to go.
“Barteau is a good scorer, but I thought we did a pretty good job on him,” Madison coach Tim Mergel said. “But (Rapp) comes in and is 6-for-6 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter.”
Jackson scored all nine of Madison’s points in overtime. The 6-foot-6 senior had a game-high 23 points, including a couple of highlight reel dunks.
“Jackson is a load and he was going at it pretty good,” Mount Vernon coach Nick Coon said. “I think he kind of shocked us because we don’t practice against a 6-6 athlete like that.”
The Rams blew out to a 12-2 lead midway through the first quarter with Jackson and sophomore Tyler Tackett each scoring six quick points, but Mount Vernon closed the period on a 15-2 run and grabbed a 17-14 lead on a Barteau triple at the buzzer. It would be the last field goal for the Jackets until less than a minute remained in the second quarter as Madison outscored Mount Vernon 10-2 and took a 24-19 halftime lead.
“When you have a two-point quarter at the varsity level, a lot of times it’s going to be a pretty big deficit,” Coon said. “Our defense kept us within striking distance and our kids never panicked.”
Daniels led Mount Vernon with 15 points. Barteau added 13 and Jeffrey Rucker had 10, all in the third quarter.
Mason Campbell backed Jackson with 15 points. Tackett added nine for the Rams.
Mount Vernon hosts highly-regarded Westerville North on Saturday. Madison is at Norwalk.
