Yellow Jackets stung by Westerville South

The dream of making it to a district final came to an end for the Mount Vernon boys basketball team.

The Yellow Jackets struggled against a taller, quicker and more athletic Westerville South squad Monday, falling to the host Wildcats 54-33 in the Div. II district final.

MV fell behind early, trailing 16-10 after one quarter. The Wildcat lead bumped to nine at intermission (31-22), but any idea the Jackets had of making a comeback ended in the third quarter. WS outscored the Jackets 13-5 in the period and effectively put the game away. The Wildcats took the air out of the ball in the final period to win.

Trenton Wells led the Jackets (11-12) with 18 points. Landon Dawson added two 3-pointers for six points and Justus Shaw had one 3-pointer.

The Jackets had trouble defending the taller, quicker Wildcats, mainly Xavier Jones (19 points) and Hassan Kaba (18 points).

Westerville South will play Big Walnut on Thursday at 8:15 p.m. for a shot at going to regionals.