MOUNT VERNON — Kaden Daniels attacked Ashland’s defense much the same way he and his Mount Vernon teammates approached their recent four-game losing streak — without so much as a modicum of apprehension.
With Daniels leading the charge, the Yellow Jackets throttled the Arrows 60-40 last Friday for their third straight win. The modest streak came to an end the following night in a 56-46 loss at Newark.
After opening the season with three straight wins, the Jackets lost four in a row and bottomed out in a 47-38 loss at Marion Harding on Dec. 27. The skid included Ohio Cardinal Conference losses at Wooster and at home against Mansfield Senior by identical 52-49 scores.
“For us it was a change in mentality,” said Daniels, who scored a team-high 12 points in the win over Ashland. “We lost four straight and we realized we have to come to play every night.
“We’re getting it turned around and we want to keep it going.”
The Jackets (6-5, 3-2) begin a critical three-game home stand Friday against Lexington (7-3, 3-1). Madison (6-4, 1-3) invades The Hive on Tuesday before Wooster (7-3, 4-1) comes to town on Jan. 19.
The stretch will go a long way in determining if Mount Vernon will challenge for the OCC title.
“We went through that four-game losing streak and I think it was more mental than physical,” Mount Vernon coach Nick Coon said. “We needed to get the right mindset and get guys playing to their strengths for our team.
“We’ve gotten back to the basics. We’re playing with more energy and more passion.”
Mount Vernon will have its hands full during the upcoming three-game stretch. Lexington boasts perhaps the most physical player in the conference in 6-foot-5 junior forward Cade Stover. A major-college football recruit with offers from Ohio State and Oklahoma among others, Stover is averaging a double-double.
Like Stover, Madison’s Kyle Jackson averages a double-double and is on the short list of OCC Player of the Year candidates. The 6-foot-6 senior swingman had 23 points in the first meeting, a 55-51 overtime victory for the Jackets at Madison last month. Wooster’s Calvin Blair would be included on the list of Player of the Year candidates as well. He scored 14 points and handed out five assists in the Generals win over Mount Vernon in mid-December.
“We talked about it when we won our first three games of the year and we talked about it again when we lost four in a row. It’s a 22-game season,” Coon said. “It’s a long haul. There are ups and downs and peaks and valleys.
“Our effort and our energy and our passion, that’s what we can control. We can bring that every day and we’ve gotten back to that.”
