Mount Vernon drops Palm Beach Lakes in Iolani Classic quarters

The visitors from New York advance to play Fairfax of Los Angeles in the semifinals tonight

Fourth quarter is Knight time.

Mount Vernon (N.Y.) couldn't figure out a 2-3 zone for more than two quarters, but caught fire to rally for a 68-59 win over Palm Beach Lakes (Fla.) in the quarterfinals of the Iolani Classic last night at the Iolani School gym.

Jonathan Mitchell scored 19 points, including a clutch 3-pointer to tie the game and spark a pivotal 12-0 run in the final 4 minutes for the Knights.

"We got a little confused early on, relying totally on our fast break," coach Bob Cimmino said. "We have an intelligent team, and at halftime I asked them to keep up the fast break, but execute our halfcourt sets."

Defensively, Mount Vernon's man defense eventually shut down the long-range shooting of Palm Beach Lakes.

"They shot lights out, but we got some nice defensive stops. The learning process got better tonight," Cimmino said.

Mount Vernon will face Fairfax in today's semifinal matchup at 8 p.m. In the other semifinal, Montrose Christian (Md.) will battle Arlington County Day (Fla.) at 6:30 p.m.

Michael Colburn, a 6-foot guard, added 17 points, four assists and three steals. The taller Knights took advantage in the low post and went to the line for 27 free-throw attempts, making 18.

The Rams, settling for 3-point bombs, made just nine of 29 tries. They shot just eight times at the foul line and made six.

Kendall Jones, who swished four treys, and Corey Claitt led PBL with 13 points each. Claitt grabbed 10 rebounds, but was just 1-for-9 from beyond the arc.

Steve Toyloy added 12 points and seven boards, and Jeremy Montgomery tallied 11 points, including three treys.

Palm Beach Lakes, using a man-to-man defense, fell behind 26-13 after one quarter. The Rams switched to a 2-3 zone, reversing their fortunes with an 11-1 run. Kendall Jones' free throw brought the Rams within 27-24, but they switched to a halfcourt trap and got burned for consecutive layups.

Palm Beach Lakes went on an 11-1 spurt to open the second half for a 37-32 lead before the Knights called timeout.

Mount Vernon rallied back, only to see the Rams to regain momentum. Toyloy's slam dunk and low-post basket anchored a 6-0 run that gave the Rams a 51-49 lead. Danilio Hutchinson's driving bucket tied the game before Jeremy Montgomery swished a trey to give the Rams a 54-51 lead with 4:27 remaining.

From that point on, however, the Knights took control.

QUARTERFINALS

Montrose Christian 53, Iolani 31

Adrian Bowie scored 16 points and Greivis Vasquez powered the Mustangs in the paint with 10 points and 13 boards. Kevin Durant, a versatile 6-10 forward-center, added 14 points and nine rebounds for the nation's top-ranked team.

Vinny Nip scored eight points to pace the host Raiders, who shot 28 percent from the field against the much taller Mustangs.

Montrose shot 59 percent from the floor and outrebounded Iolani 35-8.

Arlington Country Day (Fla.) 54, Urspring (Germany) 51

A.J. Stewart pumped in 17 points on 6-for-6 shooting from the field as the Apaches edged the squad from Germany. Josue Soto added 14 points.

Lucca Staiger paced Urspring with 19 points. Marco Buljevic added 13, including four treys. Patrick Horstmann led his team with 11 rebounds.

Fairfax (Calif.) 58, Mountain View (Ariz.) 45

Matthew Shaw scored 18 points and the Lions outrebounded the Toros 33-18 for the win. Jerren Shipp, who sat out the first game of the tourney, added 13 points and seven boards, while Ja'Shon Hampton tallied 10 points and Chace Stanback grabbed nine rebounds.

Kendall Wallace led the Toros with 24 points.

CONSOLATION

Maryknoll 56, Kalaheo 54

Tyler Tsukazaki poured in 37 points on 15-of-18 shooting as the Spartans withstood the Mustangs. Tsukazaki hit all three of his 3-point tries and grabbed five rebounds to lead Maryknoll. Jordan Ho-Ching, a junior forward, added 12 points.

Cheynne Lishman and Clifton Pires led Kalaheo with 13 points apiece. Pires also had a team-high eight rebounds. Kahua Hollinger added 10 points and Elias David hustled for seven boards for the Mustangs, who trailed by 16 points before rallying. Kalaheo missed opportunities at the free-throw line, making only 21 of 38 attempts.

Maryknoll was only 7-for-13 from the line and committed 16 turnovers, but shot 56 percent from the field.

Kahuku 47, Kohala 35

Kevin Unga muscled his way for 16 points as the Red Raiders outlasted the Big Island team. Unga, a 6-foot-1 football standout, made six of his nine field-goal attempts and hauled in a team-high eight rebounds.

Kahuku committed 24 turnovers against Kohala's fullcourt press.

Kelly Nakamura scored 12 points to lead the Cowboys, who were outrebounded 34-14.

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