LEXINGTON — His team lost 66-33 on Friday night at Lexington. But Mount Vernon coach Nick Coon found a positive to take away from the Ohio Cardinal Conference boys basketball game.
Positive as in a valuable lesson learned when the visitors trailed just 12-9 after one quarter.
“As solid a first quarter as we might have played, to be right there, it goes quickly and it can get out of hand in a heartbeat,” Coon said. “Understanding the importance of the little things and valuing each possession at the varsity level is probably a good experience for us to take from tonight.”
The Yellow Jackets, who defeated the Minutemen 55-48 at home in early December, slipped to 6-8 overall, 3-4 in the OCC. Lexington improved to 10-3, 5-1.
GOOD START: Mount Vernon led early in the game and entered the second quarter down by just three, despite connecting on just 4 of 12 first-period shots, 0-for-4 from beyond the arc.
However, the Minutemen, led by 20 points and 10 rebounds from senior post Cade Stover, dominated the next 24 minutes, outscoring the Yellow Jackets in each quarter — 16-9, 22-9 and 16-6.
“Lexington kind of imposed their will. We are not at that level yet to be able to match something like that,” Coon said. “They have eight seniors and they are all pulling the same direction.
“This is their last go-around and they have championship aspirations and tournament-run aspirations and they know this is the time of year you buckle down and get better.”
Lexington connected on 66 percent of its shots (27-41), including 77 percent of two-point attempts (23-30). The Yellow Jackets finished shooting just 32 percent (11-34) from the floor, including 2-of-16 from distance.
Lexington’s zone made it especially tough against Mount Vernon. Junior Connor Fisher was the only Yellow Jacket in double figures, finishing with 11 points. Junior Spencer Bills and and senior Jaxon Snyder each had eight.
“We haven’t seen a whole lot of zone in live action. We have worked on it in practice, but against their size, their strength and the urgency they play with, it makes it difficult. We had trouble finding some open looks,” Coon said.
The coach knew it would be a tough task against the experience of Lexington, which returned most of its starting lineup from last year’s Final Four team.
Meanhile, the Yellow Jackets graduated 10 seniors from a year ago and returned just one player with varsity experience this season.
“It’s good experience for us to learn that at the varsity level, things can happen first. If you are not at the top of your game against really good teams, this thing can happen — especially for Mount Vernon because our margin of error is not big,” Coon said.
“Hopefully, we can use this is a learning experience going forward and grow from it, rather than dwell on it.”
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: In addition to Stover, Lexington got 12 points from senior Kyle Johnston and eight apiece from junior Kaydan Berry and senior Nick Stehle.
Lexington had a 28-13 edge in rebounding with 11 different Minutemen collecting at least one board. Bills led the Yellow Jackets with three.
Mount Vernon committed 13 turnovers, compared to just eight for Lexington. The Minutemen were twice as efficient on offense, averaging 1.46 points per possession, compared to 0.71 for the Yellow Jackets. The Minutemen led in points in the paint (28-12), points off turnovers (21-8) and in points off triples (12-6).
UP NEXT: Mount Vernon hosts Logan on Wednesday in a non-league game. Lexington hosts Wooster in an OCC game on Tuesday.
