Basketball Game Preview: Mount Vernon Patriots vs. Intermountain Christian Lions

The Mount Vernon Patriots will take on the Intermountain Christian Lions in a holiday battle at at 7:00 p.m. on Monday. Both have had a bumpy ride up to this point with five consecutive losses apiece.

Mount Vernon is headed into the contest out to prove that what happened against Merit Preparatory Academy on Friday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. Mount Vernon was beaten by Merit Preparatory Academy 91-23. The Patriots were in a tough position after the first half, with the score already sitting at 51-5.

They got a good chunk of their points from the dynamic duo of Robert Wharton and Andre Hernandez, who each put up nine points. Mustafa Jalili held things down on the boards with ten rebounds. He took the lead distributing the ball, coming up with two assists.

Meanwhile, Intermountain Christian ended up a good deal behind Vanguard Academy on Friday and lost 61-47.

Mount Vernon will need focus on slowing down Noah Furze, one of several Intermountain Christian players who made an impact when they last played. He went 7 of 17 en route to 17 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Noah Hillaker, who posted 18 points and seven rebounds.

Intermountain Christian's loss dropped their record down to 1-8. As for Mount Vernon, their defeat dropped their record down to 0-5.

Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Mount Vernon has crashing the boards this season, having averaged 20.6 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Intermountain Christian struggles in that department as they've been averaging 23.9 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.

Everything came up roses for Mount Vernon against Intermountain Christian in their previous meeting back in February of 2023, as the squad secured a 64-35 win. In that matchup, Mount Vernon amassed a halftime lead of 43-14, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Monday.