Mount Vernon does it all in 3A district championship rout of Benton Community

VINTON — They may have caught a break or two with who they don't have to play in order to get to the state basketball tournament. But there was absolutely nothing lucky about the Class 3A district championship they won Thursday night.

The Mount Vernon Mustangs were out and out great in a 68-36 dismantling of Benton Community in what was thought to be a coin-flip game. The teams came in with identical records and had been playing very well.

'I was pleased with our consistency,' said MV Coach Ed Timm. 'We're a team where we've had flashes of being really special. Our goal has been to play 32 minutes, and I thought we came as close tonight as we have all year.'

It has taken awhile for this thing to come together. Timm, who led Mount Vernon to a state championship in 2012, took the program back over this season after a two-year hiatus, but the majority of the team got a very late start because of a long and successful football season,

Timm really couldn't teach and implement his style and philosophies until Christmas break. Mount Vernon (17-6) won six straight after the holidays, playing in a brutally tough East Division of the Wamac Conference.

The Mustangs led the whole way here, shooting it at an over 60-percent clip most of the way and holding Benton (16-7) to 26 percent. Rebounding was another mismatch, MV holding a 34-15 edge.

As Timm said, this was a complete performance.

'We just came out hot, played with a lot of energy at the start,' said Mount Vernon's Connor Herrmann. 'Our defense really stepped up tonight. We've been playing well the whole year, but really turned it on tonight. We did a lot of good things on the defensive end. Then offensively, some shots went in early, and we got rolling.'

Guard Austin Ash led the way with 24 points, including four 3-pointers. He's a deadly shooter when he can set his feet.

Herrmann and Tommy Hook added 11 points apiece and Drew Adams 10 off the bench. You might remember those three as a profilic quarterback (Adams) and receivers combination during MV's run to the Class 2A state championship football game.

Guard Lathan Cooper had 11 points to lead Benton, though Mount Vernon did a terrific job of not allowing him to consistently penetrate the lane, which is his forte.

'Defensively, they are long and really know how to move their feet and get after it,' said Benton Coach Larry Carlson. 'That definitely started dictating the tempo of the game a little bit. We were a little rattled, I think, right away. Kind of took us out of our game.'

Mount Vernon is fortunate that it didn't get paired with either Cedar Rapids Xavier or two-time defending state champion Dubuque Wahlert in the district or substate. In fact, it has a favorable matchup with rival Solon (9-14) in Monday night's 8 p.m. substate final at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids.

MV won two regular-season games between the teams by a combined 44 points.

'We need to come out with the same intensity as tonight,' Ash said. 'We played them twice early in the year, but we've got to come out level-headed and play our game.'

'There's been some bad blood between us,' Herrmann said. 'We're all excited to go back to the Cell Center. We didn't get the result last year, losing to Xavier, so everyone will be pumped up for the game Monday night.'

AT VINTON

BENTON COMMUNITY (36): Tucker Schroeder 1-4 0-0 2, Hunter Semelroth 3-5 3-4 9, Lathan Cooper 3-9 5-6 11, Spencer Touro 1-8 1-2 4, Tyler Eggert 3-10 0-0 8, Adison Stenford 1-2 0-0 2, Patrick Michael 0-0 0-0 0, Blake Jones 0-0 0-0 0, Brett Benson 0-1 0-0 0, Brady Kraus 0-1 0-0 0, Brody Rawson 0-0 0-0 0, Kacey Korsmo 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 12-43 9-12 36.

MOUNT VERNON (68): Connor Herrmann 5-8 0-0 11, Joe Corcoran 0-0 0-0 0, Austin Ash 7-9 6-7 24, Adam Ketelsen 3-4 0-0 6, Tommy Hook 3-5 5-5 11, Drew Adams 3-7 1-2 10, Marquis Dew 1-1 0-0 2, Nick Leopold 0-1 0-0 0, Nick Bevans 1-1 0-0 2, Zach Krogmann 0-1 0-0 0, Chris Chapman 0-2 0-0 0, Carter Rodman 0-2 0-0 0, Travis Wright 0-0 2-2 2, Jeremy Krogmann 0-0 0-0 0, Ian Bootsmiller 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-41 14-16 68.

Halftime — Mount Vernon 34, Benton Community 15. 3-point goals — Benton 3-15 (Cooper 0-1, Touro 1-5, Eggert 2-6, Kraus 0-1, Korsmo 0-2), Mount Vernon 8-19 (Herrmann 1-3, Ash 4-5, Ketelsen 0-1, Adams 3-7, Chapman 0-2, Rodman 0-1). Rebounds — Benton Community 15 (Schroeder, Semelroth, Benson 2), Mount Vernon 34 (Herrmann 8). Turnovers — Benton Community 9, Mount Vernon 11.

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