12-09-03
BY JACK BULLOCK
MOUNT VERNON - Getting off the bus Tuesday night, Madison coach Kenny Stanley preached to his team that they could not afford to play from behind against Mount Vernon on the road.

In response the Trojans jumped out to a quick 10-4 lead.

However Mount Vernon turned up the defensive pressure, solved the Madison 2-3-zone defense for multiple layups and got the lead that they wanted.

Holding the ball and making the Trojans chase in the second half, the Rams picked up a pretty easy 43-33 win.

After losing five-straight games, Mount Vernon picked up its first victory of the season.

"People just don't understand how important it is when you come in here and play them (Mount Vernon) that you have to keep the lead, you must get ahead of them," said Coach Stanley, whose team fell to 2-3 on the season. "We are kind of big and we can't really chase teams."

But at the beginning of the game, the Trojans looked as if they were going to follow the game plan to a tee. Rickey Salmond scored off the opening tip on a quick drive to the basket.

His shot fell at the 7:57 mark for a quick 2-0 lead.

After Matt Upchurch scored on a 'backdoor' layup, Madison's Roy Chatt and Salmond each canned a 3-pointers to push the Trojans out to a 10-4 advantage.

However the Rams were getting Upchurch and Tony Fitzpatrick loose behind the Madison zone and it began to pay off in the final minutes of the quarter.

Both scored on easy baskets and when Upchurch hit a short jumper in the lane on an out-of-bounds play, the Madison lead at the first horn was just 12-10.

After Upchurch tied the game in the opening moments of the second quarter, Madison's Chatt hit for five points on a shot in the lane and another 3-pointer.

Upchurch kept pace with a 3-pointer of his own, closing the Rams deficit to 17-15 with 5:42 left before halftime.

But what Coach Stanley had feared coming into this game happen the rest of the second quarter and eventually the remainder of the game.

The Trojans didn't score another point before intermission.

Fitzpatrick scored on a reverse lay in to tie things up at 17-all.

On the next trip down the court for MV, Fitzpatrick had his shot blocked by Madison's 6-8 senior Perry Adams.

But the ball went right to the Rams Michael Doggan, who put in a short banks shot while being fouled by the Trojans' David Blakely.

Although he missed the free throw, the Rams now had the lead and the pressure shifted to Madison.

After a Doggan steal and missed lay up attempt, Fitzpatrick out battled two Madison defenders and put back his own rebound to give Mount Vernon a 21-17 lead.

Madison, while attempting to hold the ball for the last shot of the half, turned it over as Salmond over dribbled and was called for a five-second violation.

The Rams missed a last second attempt but went to the half with a four-point lead.

That late sequence of the Rams beating Madison on the offensive glass carried over to the second half.
"When we play against a more physical team, we struggle. When a team bumps us and gets us off the spot we have problems," added Coach Stanley. "Class AA teams that we play are more physical than the Class A teams."

With the Rams getting the ball back at the beginning of the third quarter, the Trojans elected to allow Mount Vernon to hold the ball.

Staying back in a zone, Madison watched the Rams run nearly two minutes off the clock.

After MV's Matt Greene had his shot rejected out-of-bounds by Adams, Upchurch canned a 3-pointer on the first pass inbounds and the Rams had a 24-17 lead with 6:21 left.

Madison made one last attempt to get close, with Adams scoring on the baseline and Chatt hitting his third 3-pointer to make it 24-22 MV.

But Matt Greene, who had been left open for most of the first two quarters, made the Trojans pay as he knocked down his only 3-point attempt of the game.

Chatt and Upchurch exchanged baskets once again and then Madison decided to once again try and hold the ball for a final shot of the quarter.

This time, the Trojans turned the ball over right before the buzzer and Mount Vernon had the lead 29-24 and the momentum heading into the fourth quarter.

After Adams scored on a rebound at the 7:31 mark, Mount Vernon put the game away with six-straight points.

Fitzpatrick (2) and Greene hit three consecutive backdoor shots, getting behind Madison's defensive overplays.

When Fitzpatrick's second shot fell, the Rams had opened up a 35-26 bulge with 4:05 left.

"We decided not to chase them around in the third quarter, hoping to let our kids a bit of a rest, but they got too far ahead of us and we had to do something," added Stanley.

Doggan's baseline drive and score while being fouled by Madison's Sean Romey sealed the deal.

His made free throw gave the Rams all the cushion that they needed to pick up the home court win.

MV got a game-high 17-points from Matt Upchurch will Fitzpatrick chipped in 12 points.

Chatt led Madison with 16, Salmond pitched in nine while Adams added eight as the rest of the Trojans were held scoreless.

Madison plays again this Friday at home against South Seven Conference foe Centralia while MV will wait until December 19th to travel to Belleville Althoff.

	1	2	3	4	-	Final
Madison	12	05	07	09		33
Mt. Vernon	10	11	08	14		43

Madison (33) - Salmond 9, Adams 8, Chatt 16.
2FG-8, 3FG-3, FT-2-2, PF-15.
Mount Vernon (43) - Doggan 5, Greene 7, Young 2, Fitzpatrick 12, Upchurch 17.
2FG-15, 3FG-3, FT-4-9, PF-6.