Konadu Steadies Majors In a Win Over Stuart

Whenever Mount Vernon sophomore Jesse Konadu has felt a tug on his jersey or an arm creep around his shoulder this season, he's turned to find one of 10 upperclassmen ready to tell him what he's doing wrong.

"Usually they'll pull me aside," Konadu said.

Following last night's 58-56 victory over visiting Stuart, Konadu faced no lectures as he quietly sat in the corner of the locker room.

The 5-foot-9 guard was an anchor for the Majors, scoring a team-high 17 points. He carried the team while the inside tandem of Skylar Jones (16 points) and Kyle Ricks (six points) were in foul trouble for most of the game.

Then, with the score tied at 56, it was Ricks who ran the floor. He took a pass from Jones and laid it in for the game-winner with less than three seconds left to extend Mount Vernon's winning streak to eight games.

Stuart's Raymond Watson, a 6-4 senior, scored eight of his team-high 19 points in the fourth quarter, including a putback on Antonio Harris Jr.'s missed jumper to cut the deficit to two. Kalvin Nellum then stole the ensuing Mount Vernon inbounds pass, and John Kwarteng laid it in to tie the score with less than 10 seconds left.

But up to that point, it was Konadu who kept Mount Vernon afloat during a back-and-fourth Virginia AAA National District affair that featured nine ties and six lead changes.

Konadu's "consistency helped us a lot tonight," Mount Vernon Coach Alfonso Smith said. "We could count on him when we needed him."

The victory helped Mount Vernon (10-4, 5-0) pad its first-place cushion atop the district standings.

Konadu, who added five rebounds, three assists and one steal, was the steadiest hand among a streaky Majors squad that had 10 of its 15 turnovers in the second half. Stuart took advantage, rallying from a 35-32 halftime deficit to tie the score at 44 going into the fourth quarter.

Jones, a lanky 6-3 senior forward who scored nine points in the first quarter, and Ricks, a 6-5 senior center, were part of a late fourth-quarter surge that helped fend off a feisty Stuart attack that closed a six-point gap in the final 38 seconds.

In the midst of its best start this decade, Stuart (10-2, 2-2) had its winning streak ended at five.

"They have a lot of heart, so they don't just let you run away with it," Smith said.

Mount Vernon 58 Stuart 56 Lucky Number Seven: Mount Vernon has defeated Stuart in seven consecutive meetings since 2005. Raider Turnaround: From 2000 to 2007, Stuart had won less than 30 games. In the last two seasons under Coach Tony Harris, the Raiders are 25-11.