When the Mount Vernon Majors hosted the Yorktown Patriots in the first week of January, both teams were an undefeated 3-0 in conference play. And while the Majors lost that match 60-51, they did so without their leader Jesse Konadu.  This time around, the Majors came in one game back of a 3-way tie for first place, and Konadu came determined to put them back on top, tying his 33-point season high en route to a 77-61 victory.

Yorktown came out of the gates strong, hitting 7 of their first 8 shots from the field.  The Majors were able to sustain the offensive outburst due to the great play of Konadu.  The 5’11’’ senior point guard scored the first 8 Major points, and 12 of their 14 in the opening quarter, which finished deadlocked.

While the Majors may have forced the issue off the dribble against Yorktown’s 2-3 zone in the first quarter, they showed confidence in their outside shooting in the second.  Harris gave the majors a huge lift off the bench, hitting 3 three-pointers and scoring 13 of his 19 points in the period.  Michael Lewis and Konadu also hit from downtown, and the Majors used the precision from the perimeter to open up a 35-29 halftime lead.

While Mount Vernon had used excellent guard play and jump shooting to get ahead, the focus of Major head coach Alfonso Smith’s team shifted to getting the ball inside in the second half.  They fed the ball into A.J. Tracy, who scored all 5 of his point in the 3^rd period.  Konadu, Lewis, and others were then able to be effective on the offensive glass, as well as slashing through the lane.    A Dion Harris 3 at the buzzer demoralized the Patriots and gave the Majors a comfortable 13-point lead going into the final quarter.

The Patriots would take several cracks at pulling themselves back into contention, but 10 more late points from Konadu proved to be too much to handle.  The real story of the second half was told from the foul line.  The aggressive offense of the Majors put them on the line 18 times in the final 2 quarters, as opposed to Yorktown’s 5 attempts.  After the slow start, the Majors scored 20 or more points in each of the final 3 quarters to cruise to the 16-point victory.

The Majors now find themselves in a tie with Yorktown for second place in the National District, and a half game behind Edison for first.  The Majors will finish their regular season against the 4 bottom teams of the district, beginning with another game in Arlington against Wakefield on Thursday night at 7:30pm.