CENTRALIA @ MOUNT VERNON
02-07-03
BY JACK BULLOCK
MOUNT VERNON - Centralia head coach Chuck Lane knew that getting an early lead was imperative in Friday night's South Seven Conference game with Mount Vernon on the road.

Falling behind the Rams at Chagnon Gym can be a tough chore to overcome.

But as it turned out, holding off the Rams at the end of the game was pretty tough to do as well.

Centralia, however, got an early cushion and held a huge free throw advantage to beat their rivals 55-49 in front of a sold out crowd.
The win improved the Orphans record to 14-9 overall and 3-3 in the league.

"We felt like the first three to four minutes of the game were very important." said Lane, who's team picked up an important win just three days before the Class AA seeding meeting takes place Monday night. "Mount Vernon doesn't want to get up and down the floor and they want to control the tempo. But we got the lead and forced them into taking some chances."

Mount Vernon took its only lead of the game at 4-3 when Deras Moore took a pass from Michael Doggan and banked home a shot from the right baseline.

The Orphans then fired right back with a 9-0 run at the end first quarter and the beginning of the second which forced the Rams to play catch up for the rest of the night.

Six-foot senior point guard Anthony Jones drilled home a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to get Centralia going.

Matt Shaw hit a pair a free throws on the next Orphan trip down the court and, after a Mount Vernon miss, Shaw found Joey Parker for an easy bucket on a backdoor cut to finish the opening frame at 10-4 Centralia.

Jones opened the second quarter with a 10-foot shot in the lane and the Orphan advantage was 12-4.

At this point in the proceedings, Moore took the Rams on his back as he has done throughout the 2002-03 season.

The 6-1 senior scored Mount Vernon's next nine points to keep his club in the contest.

His three-point play on a power move down the right baseline drew Shaw's second personal foul at the 4:45 mark.

But during this scoring spree by Moore, Centralia answered with seven points.

Shaw and Jeremy Moss scored conventional baskets to go with another Jones 3-pointer. After the Moore 3-point play, the score was 19-13 Orphans.

The half ended with Parker scoring on a 15-foot shot and then the Rams Derek Martin hit a 17-foot shot from the corner to end the half at 21-15.

After Moore opened the second half scoring with a short jumper in the paint that cut the lead to 21-17, Centralia scored the next ten points.

Jones hit another 3-pointer and Shaw scored on a lob tip-in and the lead was back to ten at 27-17 with 4:40.

As Centralia began controlling the games tempo, the fouls started to mount for the Rams as they were now forced to take some defensive chances.

Jones and Shaw combined to nail four-straight free throws to give the Orphans their biggest lead of the evening at 31-17 with 1:27 left in the third quarter.

"Our athleticism helped us tonight in that we could make them play our style once we got a pretty good lead. But I didn't like seeing them make those late shots." added Lane.

Mount Vernon made a game of it in the final quarter with a defensive stand that forced Centralia into several miscues.

Martin scored while being fouled by Jones. His free throw got the Rams back to within ten.

Then Moore got the Mount Vernon crowd roaring with a steal and a basket to cut the lead down to 33-27 and forced an Centralia timeout with 6:22 left.

The Orphans quickly regrouped and found the MV full court press to their liking.

Jones found Moss for a lay up after beating the press on one trip. He did the same thing one trip later as he pitched a nice pass to Neil Crosby who scored on a lay in to make it 41-34.

Crosby then converted two free throws with 4:13 remaining to push the Orphan lead to 43-34.

Moore managed to score six more points in the game.

His bank shot from the right baseline cut the lead down to 43-38.

But the Orphans sealed the victory from the foul line by hitting 9-of-12 free throws in the final 2:07.

Centralia netted 24-of-31 free throws while Mount Vernon only attempted five free throws, hitting three.

The foul discrepancy can be attributed, in part, by the Rams being forced to foul in the second half as the Orphans took a page from coach Doug Creel and ran some clock.

Jones led three Orphans in double-figures with 17 points. Shaw and Moss added 15 and 13 respectively.

Moore led the Rams (8-12) with 25 while Doggan and Martin had eight points apiece.

"I told the kids to be patient in the second half and we were able to hold them off tonight." added Lane. "I am sure that in two weeks when we play them (the Rams) at our place it will be a tough game as well."