Don't count out Mount Vernon just yet

MOUNT VERNON - Still state champions.“We're champs until the next person wins,” said Mount Vernon center Calvin Kragenbrink, after his team's 61-30 district boys' basketball stroll past Alburnett Monday night. “That's how you've got to play.”Let's not get too carried away here. It'd be absolutely stunning if MV makes it a two-peat in Class 2A, shocking if it just gets back to the state tournament.This is an entirely different club, with two freshmen and a sophomore in the starting lineup. A wire-to-win win improved Mount Vernon's record to a not-so-gaudy 6-16.But it's nice to dream, and the Mustangs have won three in a row. They're certainly battle tested, facing nine ranked opponents this season in one bear of a Wamac Conference East Division.The district semifinal matchup is against Monticello (14-7), which plays in the same Tri-Rivers Conference as Alburnett, which finished 7-16.“We've played better the last two weeks. We really have,” said Coach Ed Timm. “I told our kids if we just continue to keep getting better every day, we've got a shot to compete with anybody. Obviously, Monticello is another step up, and we'll see what happens. With our younger kids tonight, it was pretty obvious they were scared.”Can't really blame guys like Connor Hermann, Tommy Hook and Andy Decamp for that feeling. They were in the stands at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines last March as Mount Vernon rallied past Fort Dodge St. Edmond for the 2A title.“Being a senior and actually playing last year, making the change from role player to trying to be a scorer and trying to contribute more to the team has been a hard transition,” said Kragenbrink, who with starting guard Conner Shaffer are the only two Mustangs who played meaningful minutes a season ago. “It's been different playing with these guys.”Herrmann led all scorers with 15 points, with Kragenbrink chipping in 11. Alec Philipp had 14 points for Alburnett, which shot just 25 percent.“Until someone beats us, we're still state champs,” Timm said. “We've won seven tournament games in a row, and that's pretty good.”Here is the game boxscore:

AT MOUNT VERNON

ALBURNETT (30): Joey Freeland 1-1 1-2 3, Karsten Wright 2-8 1-2 5, Ky Dierks 1-4 0-0 3, Alec Philipp 4-15 5-7 14, Kolton Rose 1-6 3-4 5, Tim Sadler 0-1 0-0 0, A.J. Reed 0-0 0-0 0, Ross Gardner 0-0 0-1 0, Mitchell Hagerman 0-0 0-0 0, Sabestian Struchen 0-0 0-0 0, Dylan Miller 0-0 0-2 0, Austin Neighbor 0-0 0-0 0, Daniel Schon 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 9-35 10-18 30.

MOUNT VERNON (61): Andy Decamp 2-7 1-1 5, Calvin Kragenbrink 5-8 1-2 11, Tommy Hook 3-10 1-1 8, Conner Shaffer 2-8 0-0 4, Connor Herrmann 6-9 2-2 15, Jake Pisarik 0-3 0-0 0, Jake Muller 0-2 0-2 0, Marshall Tuerler 2-4 2-2 7, Jake Leopold 1-2 1-1 3, Drake Kroeger 1-2 0-0 3, Nolan Teubel 1-2 0-0 3, Calvin Kranig 0-1 0-0 0, Kaiser Arndt 0-0 0-0 0, Jacob Malik 1-1 0-0 2, Alex Reid 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-59 8-11 61.

Halftime - Mount Vernon 29, Alburnett 14.

3-point goals - Alburnett 2-10 (Wright 0-3, Dierks 1-1, Philipp 1-6), Mount Vernon 5-19 (Decamp 0-3, Hook 1-5, Shaffer 0-2, Herrmann 1-3, Muller 0-1, Tuerler 1-2, Leopold 0-1, Kroeger 1-1, Teubel 1-1).

Rebounds - Mount Vernon 41 (Herrmann, Decamp 8), Alburnett 22 (Dierks 5).

Total fouls - Alburnett 11, Mount Vernon 18.

Fouled out - Dierks.

Turnovers - Alburnett 20, Mount Vernon 16.