01-08-08
BY JACK BULLOCK
MOUNT VERNON - The Madison Trojans lost their composure in the final seconds of their road contest at Mount Vernon on Tuesday night which eventually led to their fourth loss of the season.

Handing the Rams the final six points of the game with a technical foul and an uncontested basket – the Trojans saw their record slip to 10-4 with a 48-40 loss to Mount Vernon.

The game was a played close throughout and it took a close call that went against the visitors and subsequent technical against the Madison head coach to separate the two teams that had played to nearly a standoff.

With the Rams clinging to a two-point lead with under a minute left – Madison senior leader Cornelius Chatt intercepted a pass and turned up the floor only to be met by Mount Vernon's Darrell Mitchell in front of the Rams bench. Upon contact – Chatt was whistled for a charging foul which gave the ball back to Mount Vernon with :22.4 remaining in the fourth quarter.

After Mount Vernon put the ball back into play – Chatt fouled the Rams' Truvanty Badger to send him to the line for a one-and-one opportunity with :15.6 remaining.

At this point as the officials were getting set for the free throws Madison head coach Anthony Smith – who had argued about the Chatt charging call earlier - appeared to have come onto the court to ask for a time out but was whistled for a technical foul.

Badger calmly sank four consecutive free throws (his one-and-bonus and then the two technical shots) to ice the game.

In a protest move the Trojans coach didn't send his team back out onto the floor.

When the ball was put back into play by Mount Vernon – the Rams E.J. Randolph finished off his 24-point scoring night with an easy lay in as the clock ran out with Madison still standing in front of its own bench.

It was fitting that Randolph scored the final points as he led all scorers on the night and carried his team to its eighth win of the season.

“He (Randolph) is our horse and we are going to ride him,” said Mount Vernon head coach Doug Creel. “We take for granted that he is going to do that (play well) every night for us.”

After the final buzzer sounded the Trojans shook hands with the Mount Vernon team and headed to the lockerroom.

Moments later the team headed straight to the bus with Smith refusing comment.

The final seconds overshadowed a close contest that was in doubt until that bizarre ending.

Chatt – who entered the game averaging 22.9 points a game – was held to just 12 points by the Rams.

Dontrell Black was assigned the job of shadowing Chatt and this senior guard kept Chatt from getting on any major scoring runs.

“Chatt is a good player but Dontrell did a good job on him,” said Coach Creel. “He only got 12 but he is capable of getting 40 because we have seen it. He got forty-something against Centralia. Dontrell did a great job.”

Limiting the Trojans possessions – Mount Vernon held Madison to 31 points under its offensive average for the season in the win.

But the stat that might have figured in on the outcome the most was Mount Vernon's ability to keep the athletic Trojans off the offensive glass.

Coach Doug Creel's club allowed only a pair of first half offensive rebounds while forcing the Trojans into a 13-of-38 performance from the field in the game.

Defensively Mount Vernon couldn't have played much better.

“We were worried about their offensive rebounding but we did a good job of keeping them off the glass tonight,” Creel added.

Early on Madison looked every bit like a team that was ranked fourth in the state in Class 1A.

The 6-foot-3 Chatt hit a pair of 3-pointers in the opening quarter that was in the middle of a 12-0 run that turned a 6-3 Rams lead into a 15-6 Madison advantage.

But Mount Vernon turned things around in a hurry with a run of its own.

Badger hit a trio of 3-pointers in the game – two of them beat quarter ending buzzers in the first and second frames.

His 'three' from the right corner with :01 left cut the Madison lead to 15-9 at the end of one.

His second one closed out the half and evened the contest at 21-apiece heading to the break.

“We've got to hit shots from the outside. When they are playing zone and making it tough on E.J we've got to make some shots and we did tonight,” Creel explained. “Truvanty hit a couple of big shots. They were huge.”

Following another 3-pointer from Badger that put the Rams back into the lead for good – Randolph took over the game offensively.

Representing what limited size the Rams have – this 6-foot-3 senior forward scored 16 of his 24 in the final 16 minutes with all of his field goals coming from around the basket.

Spreading the floor Mount Vernon found some open passing lanes where Randolph received assists from the Rams guards.

When E.J. Scored on a drive to the basket with 1:36 left in the third quarter – Mount Vernon led 34-27.

Madison got within one point of the hosts twice in the final quarter.

Chatt stuck back an offensive rebound to cut the MV lead to 34-33 with 7:11 to go.

But as it turned out that would be Chatt's final points.

A steal by Sidney Brown and pass to Jesse Green got Madison back to within a point one final time at 38-37.

But five fourth quarter turnovers – which included the Chatt charge - and the 'blow up' at the end were too much for the Trojans to overcome.

Chatt led Madison with his 12 points while Green ended up with 10.

The Trojans finished with a slight 21-20 rebounding edge but couldn't overcome their other problems.

Most notably the poor shooting to go with 13 turnovers.

Mount Vernon (8-6) finished with a 16-of-29 shooting showing (55 percent) and did enough of the good things to win for the eighth time in 10 games after an 0-4 beginning of the season.

“It was a nice win for us. I hated the way it ended,” finalized Creel. “But our kids are competing and playing hard and we'll take it.”

Madison (40) - Gregory 3 0 0-0 6, Emerson 0 0 4-4 4, Brown 0 0 0-0 0, Echols 0 0 0-0 0, Chatt 1 3 1-2 12, Mason 0 0 0-0 0, Green 2 0 6-9 10, Williams 0 0 0-0 0, Wallace 3 0 0-0 6, Johnson 1 0 0-0 2, McClendon 0 0 0-2 0.
2FG-10, 3FG-3, FT-11-17, PF-17.
Mount Vernon (48) - Mitchell 0 0 0-1 0, Black 1 0 0-0 2, Badger 1 3 4-4 15, Quick 0 0 0-0 0, Kujawa 1 1 2-2 7, Randolph 9 0 6-10 24.
2FG-12, 3FG-4, FT-12-17, PF-13.
Fouled Out - None.
Technical Fouls - Madison Bench.