By Robert Tomlinson
News Director
MENDON — A slow start did not faze the Mendon boys’ basketball team, as they erupted for a 29-6 advantage in the second quarter en route to a 69-38 drubbing of Marcellus in the first round of the Mendon Holiday Tournament Tuesday.
With the win, the Hornets move on to the finals and will face the winner of Galesburg-Augusta and Martin, who was the late game in the four-team tournament and played immediately following the Mendon-Marcellus matchup. The finals start at 1:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 2, while the consolation game between Marcellus and the loser of the Galesburg-Augusta and Martin matchup will play at noon Friday.
The first quarter did not quite go Mendon’s way at first, as Marcellus, who was shorthanded on the evening, got out to an early 6-3 lead thanks to two buckets by Javonne Robinson and a score by Matthew Jansen. Mendon’s first three points came on a three-pointer by Ryder Gorham, who also scored less than a minute later to make it 6-5.
Marcellus would have as big as a 14-9 lead in the first quarter with a little over two minutes to go. However, buckets by Carter Huston and Owen Gorham brought them to within one point, 14-13, and then two free throws by Huston with a little over a minute left gave Mendon a 15-14 lead, which would be the score at the end of the first quarter.
Mendon’s offense would go off in the second quarter, thanks in large part to Owen Gorham, who dropped 20 of his game-high 24 points on the evening in the second quarter alone, including three three-pointers. The Hornets ended the half with a 24-2 run in the final six minutes, including a 17-0 run that lasted just over four and a half minutes.
Meanwhile, Marcellus was not able to get much going on offense, and was held to just three field goals in the quarter and went 0-for-2 on its only trip to the charity stripe in the quarter. Mendon would have a commanding 44-20 lead at the half.
The third quarter was a fairly back-and-forth affair, with Marcellus going on a 10-4 run to start the quarter to make it a 48-30 contest. Seven of those points came from Jamarion Robinson, while the other three came on free throws by Javonne Robinson. However, Mendon would right the ship, going on a 9-3 run in the final three and a half minutes of the quarter, with Dante Goto’s first in-game slam dunk starting it off, followed by a more conventional layup by Goto, three free throws and a fast break lay-in by Ryder Gorham to make it 59-30. Matteo Vehre would hit a three-pointer for the Wildcats to round out the scoring and end the quarter with the score 59-33 in favor of the host Hornets.
Mendon would put a bow on the game in the fourth quarter, getting most of their reserves some playing time as they finished with a 10-5 advantage in the quarter. Ryder Gorham had six of the points in the quarter, while Gabe Terry and Tristin Wood rounded out the scoring with a bucket each. Jamarion Robinson had two points for the Wildcats in the quarter, while Brae Newcomb had the other three for the visitors, finishing off the 69-38 victory for the Hornets.
Statistically, Owen Gorham led all scorers with 24 points, followed by Ryder Gorham with 20 points. Huston added seven points, Goto and Wood had six points each, and Kyron Truckey and Gabe Terry had two points each to round out the scoring.
Hornets head coach Matt Gorham said while shot selection wasn’t what he would’ve absolutely liked to see, he was proud of his offense for the way it performed against the Wildcats.
“It was a little more outside than I wanted to, especially early on when we couldn’t hit much at all like that, but shots are open, they’re going to fall, but it’s just getting in the mindset of, I’m a shooter, I’m going to shoot the ball, but I need to crash the boards too,” Matt Gorham said.
As for Owen Gorham and his team-leading performance, Matt Gorham said he was proud of him, especially as he reached 1,000 points in his career with his efforts on the evening.
“He couldn’t miss in the first half, and everybody kept feeding him the ball,” Matt Gorham said. “I’m always preaching, ‘feed the hot hand,’ and the unselfishness is nice.”
As for Marcellus, Jamarion Robinson led the team with 17 points, followed by Javonne Robinson with 11 points. Newcomb and Vehre had three points each, Jansen had two points, and G. Rumsey had two points to round out the day. Wildcats head coach Troy Kahler said it was the defensive pressure and missed opportunities in the field that, for the most part, got to his team in the loss.
“Most teams are pressing the crap out of us because we don’t have ballhandlers, especially since one of our point guards was sick today. But we broke their press really well, we got easy buckets off it, but we didn’t convert everything. We missed a lot of easy buckets at the rim where we could’ve built a 10, 12-point lead,” Marcellus head coach Troy Kahler said. “The second quarter, the lack of depth attributed to it, plus we don’t rebound the ball well. We weren’t going to beat that team, but we could’ve been within 15 easily if we converted layups.”
With the win, Mendon improves to a perfect 7-0 on the season. Marcellus, with the loss, drops its record to 0-6.
Robert Tomlinson can be reached at 279-7488 or robert@wilcoxnewspapers.com.
