The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Vermilion cruises past Oberlin in opener
Vermilion used its size and experience to overpower a young Oberlin team, 76-58, Nov. 30 in the first round of the annual Vermilion Tip Off Classic behind a stellar opening-night performance from Mason Montgomery.
The 6-foot-3 senior led all scorers with 31 points and added four rebounds, three steals and a block to pace the Sailors in their season-opening VERMILION 76, OBERLIN 58
victory.
Vermilion will face LaMelo Ball and SPIRE Institute Dec. 1 in the championship game.
“We started off kind of slow,” Montgomery said. “We weren’t getting the shots we wanted but as we settled down we were swinging the ball around on offense.
“I think we played a great second half. The first half was pretty good but we played an amazing second half.”
Vermilion went on a 8-0 run after giving up the game’s first basket to Oberlin (0-1) but the Phoenix hung tough through the first quarter before the game started to slip away.
Montgomery opened the second quarter with a quick 3-pointer and the Sailors went on another big run to go up, 23-12, within the first two minutes of the period. He had 19 points in the first half including a 3-pointer with just over 30 seconds to play before the
teams headed to the locker room.
The Sailors’ skill was apparent, but it was experience more than anything that allowed them to exploit a young Oberlin team. Of Vermilion’s 12 players listed on the roster, 11 are seniors compared to Oberlin’s three.
“I thought (Vermilion) played hard, they played well, you could tell they’re a very veteran team,” Oberlin coach Kurt Russell said. “I think at one time we had four freshmen and a sophomore in the game and it’s hard as a freshman to compete at this level against a very, very good Vermilion team.”
Vermilion’s fast pace in transition has become a staple of the program and it was more of the same against the Phoenix.
The Sailors created countless opportunities off turnovers and fast breaks, and against an underclassmen-heavy team like Oberlin, it was easier to confuse the Phoenix into missed assignments.
“Everyone knows who we are, what we try to do,” Montgomery said. “We try to push, push, push and get as many points as we can without running an offense and we’ve been doing that very well, been practicing it very hard and we see it translate to the game.”
Vermilion coach Kurt Habermehl was concerned the team’s usual uptempo approach wouldn’t work out and that his players may not have been in the best physical shape to start the season, but those worries quickly subsided.
“We were kind of worried about our stamina,” Habermehl said. “I didn’t know how good of shape we were in but I thought we maintained pretty well. We were able to run the floor most of the game, press most of the game, so I was pretty happy with our effort tonight.”
Zach Kovach added 13 points and Jonah Pfeil had 12 for Vermilion.
Trajen Chambers led Oberlin with 19 points and was the only Phoenix to reach double digits.
“We knew Vermilion was a little bit bigger, a little bit taller,” Russell said. “We really had to use our fundamentals to win this ball game. We didn’t do that great of a job (boxing out) in the second half and that was a little disappointed but I thought the kids played hard.”