Mount Vernon's surprise playoff run comes to a noisy end at Kingston in regional final
KINGSTON – The run is over.
After solving the issues that overshadowed this team in the early going and defying the doubters by winning another gold ball, Mount Vernon was beginning to dream big. The Knights got a noisy wake-up call, though, from a Kingston team that shot down each rally to the delight of 800 screaming fans.
The season ended Friday with an 81-78 loss to Kingston in a NYSPHSAA Class AAA regional final.
“I called a timeout at the end and in the huddle I told them I’ve never been prouder of a group than I am of them,” Mount Vernon coach Bob Cimmino said. “And I’ve coached a long time.”
The Knights were down 17-3 in the closing minutes of the first quarter, but climbed back.
“Our mindset was like, ‘This is just like any other game. We’re in the first quarter,’ ” junior guard Tavien Tyler said. “All we had to do was dig in.”
It was a one-possession game late in the first half, but Kingston closed with a flourish and went into the intermission with a 36-27 lead. The same thing happened in the third quarter. Mount Vernon got within 52-50 but was down eight heading into the fourth quarter.
Kai Harvey knotted the score 60-60 with 6:29 to go, but Kingston was up 10 four minutes later.
“That was huge,” Tigers senior guard Derek Constance said of the multiple 3s he and his teammates hit to halt each comeback run. “We had a lot of energy coming into this game and I feel like maybe we just wanted it a little more than them.”
What it means
Kingston had a clear advantage from the jump. Getting a home game for a regional final is not a frequent occurrence. The Tigers were comfortable in a familiar environment, defeating the Mount Vernon pressure by delivering a third and fourth pass to get open looks. Kingston dropped a dozen 3-pointers, keeping the crowd fully engaged.
“It was tough to play here, it was, yeah,” Cimmino said. “I don’t know why it was set up like this, but if we had won I wouldn’t be saying a thing. We were right there. We were close. It was a great atmosphere, I just wish it was at Mount Vernon High School.”
Player of the game
Elijah Abrams was an impact player all game long, finishing with 28 points.
Box score
Kingston (18-4): Elijah Abrams 28P; Derek Constance 21P; Ke’Montae Thawe 15P; Marcus Steele 9P; Brady Gardner 4P; Wilson Speller 2P; Demetrius Johnson 2P.
Mount Vernon (15-7): Tavien Tyler 25P; Nate Edwards 24P; Kai Harvey 10P; Hadi Adeyi 7P; Justin Muhammad 5P; Dwight Findlay 5P; Robert Robinson 2P.
Quotable
“My one takeaway from the season is, everybody is going to doubt you and as long as you tune out the doubters you’ll be all right,” Tyler said.
“There’s a point in the season where the players took over the team from the coaches,” Cimmino said. “They just represented so well. They were doing their own scouting reports. … Our seniors, people said, ‘Maybe this isn’t the Mount Vernon group,’ and our seniors get to go out gold.”
“We have the best home section in the game,” Constance said. “I don’t think anyone can beat us here. All year, we’ve been having a great student section and they’ve been bringing all the energy we could need.”
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Mount Vernon boys basketball falls at Kingston in AAA regional final
