MOUNT VERNON – Dayne Burgess provided a complete, all-around performance to lead the Mount Vernon boys basketball team in a complete, all-around performance on Friday, Jan. 22.
Burgess went for 23 points, seven rebounds, six assists and a pair of blocks to propel the Yellow Jackets to a 65-48 win over West Holmes in Ohio Cardinal Conference play.
It was a massive turnaround from the first time the two teams played, when the Knights scored a 46-27 win over the Jackets on Dec. 11 in Millersburg.
“He not only scored, but he set a lot of other guys for shots — and good ones,” Mount Vernon coach Nick Coon said. “That was big for us. He’s a great teammate, first and foremost. It was great to see him play at the high of a level tonight. I think the other players fed off that as well.”
West Holmes coach Don Hall thought he had a solid game plan on Burgess and the Jackets, who busted out for eight 3-pointers including five in the first half.
“They made some shots,” Hall said. “We played off the guy that — with my season stats — was shooting 14% from the 3-point line. He was shooting 37% from 2. He made some shots, got into the paint a little too much. He came to play tonight.”
“Dayne played with a lot of confidence tonight,” Coon said. “He went at the basket, and even if it didn’t go well he went at the basket again. It was great to see his execution of understanding how he was being guarded and not letting that deter him.”
Burgess and Blake Meyer were each held to five points in that first game.
Meyer went for 12 points, five boards, three blocks, two assists and a pair of steals to back Burgess for the Jackets (4-9, 3-4), who snapped a four-game skid. Beau Bridges had 12 points, seven rebounds, three steals and a pair of assists; and Owynn Gleason hit three 3s and scored 11 points, adding three steals to his ledger for Mount Vernon.
Gleason’s first 3, which came off a Burgess feed, gave the Jackets a 9-6 lead with 4:44 left in the first quarter and they never trailed again. Mount Vernon led 30-22 at the break and 44-29 after three quarters.
“All week we’ve talked about what we need to do to play our basketball,” Burgess said. “And that’s going out there and playing as a team. Whosever night it is, we’re just going to keep feeding him. I just had the hot hand tonight. So they just kept coming to me. I trusted my teammates over the course of the game to hit their 3s and run out and get layups. Overall, we all played together and came together for a good team win.”
Garrett Eastep played well for the Knights (10-3, 4-3) in both meetings. He had 21 points, six rebounds and a pair of steals; with 15 points coming in the fourth quarter as West Holmes battled back. He scored 13 points to lead the Knights in the first meeting.
“He’s actually our defensive specialist,” Hall said. “He was guarding Meyer to start the game, and for the most part held Meyer in check. We don’t really look for him to score, but he can score — obviously. He’s just relentless and his engine never quits. He’s just a very nice, well-rounded player for us.”
