Mount Vernon's defense too much for North Cedar in 56-39 win

 DES MOINES - As he ran onto the court for pregame warm-ups with the rest of his team, Will Teubel tripped and did a face plant on the Wells Fargo Arena floor. It turned out to be the only misstep the Mount Vernon Mustangs had all night.Dominant defensively as usual, despite being undersized, Mount Vernon led from virtually start to finish in an impressive 56-39 win over North Cedar in a Class 2A state tournament quarterfinal Monday night.

The Mustangs (21-4) face top-seeded MFL/Mar-Mac (24-1) in Thursday's semifinals at 2 p.m. in a matchup of the field's top offensive and top defensive teams. If you watched this one, you won't have to ask which team rules on defense.Oh, by the way, a slightly embarrassed Teubel picked himself off the floor with a big smile and played a part in this nice win.“We bring our lunchpails, like to play hard,” said Mount Vernon Coach Ed Timm. “We like to think we're pretty good defensive players ... That's kind of what we hang our hat on. We try to play defense and have that lead into our offense. Just not give up any easy shots.”Jordan Hay scored inside to give North Cedar (20-5) a 2-0 lead, but that was it for the Knights, who failed to build on a fourth-place finish here last season. No jitters whatsoever for MV, which got a strong eight-point first quarter from 5-foot-11 fireplug Micah Russell to build a 13-8 edge.Russell finished with a game-high 20 points, making 9 of 10 field-goal attempts, as the Mustangs ran to a 14-point halftime lead. Active man-to-man defense that included a plethora of tipped and deflected passes led to 17 telltale North Cedar turnovers.The Knights could get no one else to score other than Hay, and he had to work for his 22 points. The clubs played early in the regular season, with Mount Vernon winning, 59-50, but the rematch turned out to be no match.“They had tough pressure, and we couldn't handle it,” said Hay, who ended a brilliant four-year varsity career.“You look at the stats, and they had 18 points off of turnovers alone,” North Cedar Coach Scott Jackson said. “We don't take care of the basketball, then they scored. We're in trouble.”It's just short of amazing what this Mount Vernon team has been able to accomplish despite four starters being 6-foot-1 or shorter.“We're really disciplined on defense and just really get in your face,” said MV's Jack Keleher, who added 11 points. “We try to get them frustrated, and that seemed to work tonight. I thought we just really played well on defense.”Here is the game boxscore:

North Cedar, Stanwood vs Mount Vernon (03!05!12 at IA Boys State Tournament-Class2A Quarter)