The lights went out at Virgil “Cuss” Wilson Gymnasium. A video recapping an Elite 8 season last year played on the video board. The Marion Wildcats were about to take the floor.

However, Mount Vernon rallied.

The Rams cruised to a 58-31 victory on Marion’s home floor Friday night, which marked their first win in South Seven conference play in as many games, and improved to 5-1 on the season.

“It’s always nice to get a conference win, especially on their home floor,” Coach Doug Creel said of the victory.

The Rams defeated the Wildcats for the second time this season, previously besting them in Round 2 of the Pyramid Plus tournament.

The Rams were led in scoring by Amir Spann, ’20 with 15 points, followed by Weston Brock house,’ 19 with 12 points, and Luke Cooper, ’19 with 10 points.

The contest started out close, but a 14-1 run in parts of the first and second quarters put the game nearly out of reach for the average team. 

In the third quarter, Spann was given a technical foul for hanging on the rim following an attempted alley-oop. In the final period, Marion was given one of their own for having six players on the floor following a Rams timeout. This continues a bizarre trend, dating back to last year, that every MV-Marion game contains at least one technical foul.

Adding to Mt. Vernon’s scoring total on Friday juniors Jackson Creel and Simon Wilson, each with 8 points, sophomore Carson Prost with 3 points, and Evan Leake, ’21 with 1 point.

The Rams must now face a tougher opponent in St. Louis De Smet (4-0) on Saturday afternoon in the Edwardsville Shootout. Tip off is scheduled for 3 PM. 

(P.C to WMIX Sports)