MOUNT VERNON, Ohio – Mount Vernon Nazarene men’s basketball led from start to finish in an 86-56 demolition of Goshen (Ind.) at Ariel Arena on Tuesday.
The Cougars gained control early, taking an early lead through a three from Brett Vipperman (SR/Ashland, OH) and floater from Jevon Grant and never trailing. Despite the early lead in the early going, Goshen would hang around, getting six early points from Alhassan Barrie. However, the Maple Leafs would also lose leading scorer Demarkus Stuckey with two early fouls.
The loss of Stuckey hurt as Mount Vernon Nazarene took control. Jordi Mas(SR/Barcelona, Spain) scored through a foul and hit his free throw to put the Cougars up 24-13, their first double digit lead of the game. Dillon McCullough would hit a three to cut the lead to back to six, but Knox answered on the other end. After Colton Noel finished in the post for Goshen, Isaac White (JR/Ashland, OH) nailed a corner three to put MVNU up 30-20. Alex Johnson (SO/Cincinnati, OH) then entered off the bench, scoring six straight points to force a Goshen timeout.
Stuckey re-entered for Goshen and hit a jumper early, but Vipperman answered in the post for MVNU. Roberts then poked a pass away and hit a tough lay-in to get MVNU to 40 points. Goshen cut into the lead, but Jordi Mas would bury from deep on the right wing, and White hit a tough fade-away jumper to put the Cougars up 20. Austin Jones(JR/Cincinnati, OH) hit a hook shot in the post as the final score of the half, seeing MVNU take a 49-27 lead into halftime.
The two teams traded points out of halftime as Goshen attacked the offensive glass. However, Goshen’s struggles from the field would continue, and MVNU continued to pull away. The lead hit 30 points on a Knox three with just over 13 minutes to go at 65-35. The Cougars cruised from that mark, as Goshen never mounted a serious comeback threat despite pressing for most of the half.
The win sees MVNU improve to 18-3 on the season, and to 6-3 in the Crossroads League. Goshen fell to 6-15 and to 0-9 in league play.
Keys to the Game
- Through the first 14 minutes of the first half, MVNU shot 12-15 from the field and 6-7 from three. The 80% pace from the floor and 85.7% clip from three helped the Cougars build their early lead.
- The Cougars would shoot 75% in the first half, going 18-24 from the field while holding Goshen to 11-28 for a 39.3% clip. MVNU also went 7-11 from three in the opening period.
- MVNU shot 57.4% from the field after cooling in the second half, but still easily outperformed Goshen, who shot only 32.3% from the field. The Cougars are now 18-1 when outshooting their opponent, and 16-2 when shooting over 45% from the field.
- Demarkus Stuckey was held to a season-low eight points on the night. Stuckey’s previous low was 10 points against Governors State (Ill.) on December 17. Stuckey also had his second-worst shooting night of the season, going 4-15 from the field for 26.7%.
- Despite going into halftime even in rebounds, Mount Vernon Nazarene outrebounded Goshen 37-32 for the game. The Cougars are 17-0 when outrebounding their opponents.
- MVNU’s inside muscle also extended to points in the paint, holding a 38-22 advantage. The Cougars’ bench also had 32 points on the night.
- Despite being pressed for most of the second half, MVNU committed only 13 turnovers for the game. Goshen committed 14 turnovers on the night.
Top Performances
- Austin Jones – Game-high 20 points
- Jevon Knox (SO/Marysville, OH) – 12 points
- Jeremiah Roberts (SR/Toledo, OH) – 12 points – Roberts is now 16 points away from 1,000 for his career.
- Jordi Mas – 12 points
- Alhassan Barrie – 10 points, team-high for Goshen
Coach Ronai Thoughts
“Our guys did a tremendous job defensively tonight. Goshen has a dynamic scorer in [Demarkus] Stuckey and I thought we made things difficult on him for most of the evening. We’ve got to continue to improve and get better in different areas and we’re looking forward to correcting those tomorrow.”
Up Next
Mount Vernon Nazarene men’s basketball returns to action on Saturday, January 19 against Saint Francis (Ind.). Tipoff at Ariel Arena is set for 3:00pm.
