12-20-03
BY JACK BULLOCK
MOUNT VERNON - After having played a tough game against rival Springfield Southeast the night before and playing without one of its key starters who was injured, Sacred Heart-Griffin was ripe for the picking when they got off of the bus Saturday night in Mount Vernon to play the Rams.

The way they shot the ball in the first quarter, they might as well have stayed on the bus and headed back home.

Missing their first 13 shots from the field while commiting five first quarter turnovers, the Cyclones fell behind 14-1 and never recovered as the Rams rolled past them 51-34 at Chagnon Gym.

"When you are in our situation, any win is good," said Mount Vernon coach Doug Creel. "Considering who this team has beaten this year, this is a big win for us. Our defense carried up throughout this game."

SHG had wins over Springfield Lamphier and Springfield H.S. coming into the contest but were no match for the Rams on this night.

Matt Upchurch again led the balanced Mount Vernon attack with 11-points.

His eight first quarter points got Mount Vernon off to a good start.

A 3-pointer by Upchurch with 6:11 left gave the Rams a 5-0 lead.

By the time Upchurch hit his last shot of the quarter, a baseline jump shot on an inbounds pass, the Rams led 14-1.

The Cyclones made their best run of the night in the second stanza as awoke from their scoring slumber for 16-second quarter points.

Tony Nevins stepped up for Coach Joby Crum in that frame, scoring all ten of his points on the night.

He hit a pair of 3-pointers, his second one cut the MV lead to 19-11 with 2:17 before halftime.

Jeff Sanders and Kyle Coady scored back to back baskets to end the quarter, which got SHG back within striking distance at 24-17 at the half.

But the Rams stormed out in the second half just as they did to open the game.

Tony Fitzpatrick scored on a reverse lay in just seconds into the third quarter which was followed by a steal and lay up by Matt Greene and a 17-footer by Jay Young.

Will Schuh, a 6-9 sophomore center for SHG, scored on a pass from Coady to get his team back to within 30-21.

However the Rams scored the final five points of the quarter, with Michael Doggan hitting on a baseline drive and then getting an assist on a Greene lay in. Doggan hit 1-of-2 free throws at the end of the quarter to push the lead to 35-21 heading to the final frame.

Early in the fourth, SHG Alex Reavy scored on a steal and lay in to briefly give his team some hope.

But Mount Vernon polished off the win and its non-conference opposition by scoring the next eight points.

Jay Young scored six of his 10 total points on the night in this stretch.

His backdoor lay in with 2:52 remaining sealed the Rams victory.

"It was nice to get a lead after what happened last night,"said Creel, refering to his team getting behind 18-3 on the road at Belleville Althoff Friday night. "We have been on the other end of that too much this season. Tonight was just a good win for us. This is one that we had to have."

SHG coach Crum made no excuses for his teams poor showing.

"They (the Rams) are a pretty good team and if you don't play good defense against them they are going to pick you apart" said Crum, whose team stands 2-3 on the season after back-to-back losses on the road. "We were missing our best player but we are not going to make excuses. But I was impressed with the way Mount Vernon played. You could tell they had us scouted well. They took away a lot of things that we tried to do on the offensive end."

Eric Peterman, the SHG 6-1 guard, sprained his ankle at practice during the week and didn't play.

Upchurch and Young topped the Rams (2-6) with 11 and 10 points respectively while Doggan and Greene added nine and eight.

Nevins led Sacred Heart-Griffin with 10. The Cyclones didn't help their cause by hitting only 4-of-12 free throws on the night.

	1	2	3	4		Final
Spr. SHG	1	16	4	13	-	34
Mt. Vernon	14	10	11	16	-	51

Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin (34) - Furris 1 0 0-0 2, Reavy 1 0 1-2 3, Nevins 2 2 0-2 10, Coady 2 0 0-0 4, Edwards 1 1 0-0 5, Gee 0 0 3-4 3, Sanders 2 0 0-2, Schuh 2 0 0-2 4.
2FG-11, 3FG-3, FT-4-12, 16.
Mount Vernon (51) - Gamber 0 1 0-0 3, Doggan 4 0 1-4 9, Greene 3 0 2-3 8, Young 5 0 0-0 10, Hooper 0 0 2-3 2, Fitzpatrick 4 0 0-1 8, Upchurch 1 2 3-4 11.
2FG-17, 3FG-3, FT-8-15, PF-12.