The Mt. Vernon Rams won the last time they faced the Salem Wildcats, and things went their way on Saturday too. Mt. Vernon came out on top against Salem by a score of 44-31. Given Mt. Vernon's advantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 47th, while Salem is ranked 285th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Navontae D nesbit jr. was his usual excellent self, scoring 18 points along with two steals. That makes it nine consecutive games in which he has scored at least a third of Mt. Vernon's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Cale Maurer, who scored 12 points along with eight rebounds and two blocks.
When it comes to explaining why Salem lost, one person who can't be blamed is Sam Greene. Despite the final result, he scored 11 points.
Mt. Vernon is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five matches, which provided a nice bump to their 17-6 record this season. As for Salem, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 8-15.
Mt. Vernon will be playing at home against Althoff Catholic at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. As for Salem, Salem and Wesclin will face off at 7:45 p.m. on January 23rd without much rest after finishing up games yesterday.
