Mount Vernon boys’ basketball team advances with win over Fairfield

MOUNT VERNON - Someone came around postgame Monday night and offered pieces of pizza to Mount Vernon boys’ basketball players.

The concession stand had too much left over, so the winning Mustangs got a piece each. Looked like Joe Briesemeister got a piece of taco, which is always tasty.

Considering everything, someone should have slipped the 6-foot-6 senior more than one piece. A whole pie would have worked.

Briesemeister scored 22 points and had 9 rebounds in Mount Vernon’s 66-57 win over Fairfield in a Class 3A substate first-round game. Kellen Haverback added 17 points for the Mustangs (17-5), who host Keokuk in a Thursday night 3A substate semifinal.

They’ve been the big guys all year offensively for this club, both averaging about 17 points per game. Call ‘em ‘Brieseback’ or maybe ‘Havermeister’

They saw a lot of triangle-and-two defense against them from Fairfield (6-16) which means three defensive players play in a triangle around the lane, with man-to-man being played against Brieseback and Havermeister.

There were some weird zone creations, some pressure defense, just about everything.

“They kind of ran the kitching sink at us defensively, which wasn’t a surprise,” said Mount Vernon head coach Derek Roberts.“

Briesemeister has signed with the University of Northern Iowa, where the new football staff up there in Cedar Falls wants him to become an offensive lineman. Right now, he’s a pretty chiseled 225 points, but he’s going to have to eat, eat, eat, eat and eat some more.

“Eventually it’s going to have to get up to the 300-pound mark,” Briesemeister said. “Seeing this is my first year, they’d like me to come into camp at about 245. That’s super reasonable. Hoping to make a long run in the basketball tournaments, but after that, I’m going to work.”

Fairfield’s Riley Perkins pretty much single-handedly allowed his team to hang around and hang around in this game. The senior guard made eight 3-pointers and poured in 28 points.

But Fairfield could never really get any closer than fi ve or six points, as Mount Vernon would get a couple of made shots of its own or a couple of defensive stops.

“We’ve got a lot to work on the next two days,” Briesemeister. “We gritted one out. All these playoff games are tough, no matter what, no matter who you’re playing. They’re going to give it their best shot. You know, they got hot in the second half. Just happy we held on.

“We can’t play defense like this and expect to beat Keokuk.”

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AT MOUNT VERNON

FAIRFIELD (57): Eli Zillman 8-10 1-3 17, Riley Perkins 10-19 0-0 28, Luke Konczal 0-1 1-4 1, Voss Richardson 1-3 0-0 3, Ethan Bisgard 1-4 1-2 3, Drew Myers 2-7 0-0 5, Spencer McCready 0-2 0-0 0, Brock Atwood 0-0 0-0 0. Ryan Giberson 0-0 0-0 0, Xavier Kessel 0-0 0-0 0, Nolan Smith 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-46 3-9 57.

MOUNT VERNON (66): A.J. McDermott 1-5 0-0 2, Josef Briesemeister 10-15 1-4 22, Stratton Ellyson 1-4 0-0 3, Kellen Haverback 6-13 5-7 17, Luke Rushford 5-8 3-4 14, Cole Thurm 1-2 0-0 2, Maddox Thede 3-4 0-0 6, Brogan Meyer 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-51 9-15 66.

Halftime - Mount Vernon 35, Fairfield 25. 3-point goals - Fairfield 8-24 (Perkins 8-13, Richardson 1-2, Bisgard 0-1, Myers 1-6, McCready 0-2), Mount Vernon 3-11 (Ellyson 1-4, Briesemeister 1-1, Haverback 0-4, Rushford 1-2). Rebounds - Fairfield 19 (Zillman, Konczal 6), Mount Vernon 31 (Briesemeister 9). Total fouls - Fairfield 13, Mount Vernon 12. Fouled out - None. Turnovers - Fairfield 14, Mount Vernon 11.

Comments: (319)-398-8258, jeff.johnson@thegazette.com