Mount Pleasant’s Kvonn Cramer drives the lane on Tuesday.
Mount Pleasant’s Keon Taylor dives for a loose ball.
Mount Pleasant’s Raheim Burnett drives past St. Elizabeth’s Joe Carrow during Tuesday’s Slam Dunk to the Beach game.
LEWES – Mount Pleasant put it all together on the final day at Slam Dunk to the Beach.
The Green Knights showed why they are Delaware’s top-ranked boys basketball team, dismantling No. 5 St. Elizabeth 65-42 on Tuesday in the annual showcase at Cape Henlopen High.
“I think we played well,” said freshman KVonn Cramer, who led Mount Pleasant with 19 points and nine rebounds. “Plays come from energy. We’ve got to feed off the energy to make the big plays.”
The Green Knights (6-1) were coming off a 53-46 loss to Bishop O’Connell of Arlington, Virginia, on Sunday, and they vented their frustration from the opening tip. The 6-foot-5 Cramer flew down the lane for a monster dunk to cap a 10-0 run and send Mount Pleasant to a 16-6 lead late in the first quarter.
“It gets the team going,” Cramer said. “When I dunk the ball, it brings a lot of energy.”
Robert Myrick kept it rolling in the second quarter, scoring eight straight points for the Green Knights. The 6-1 guard made a layup and two free throws, then blazed down the floor to haul in a long pass from Keon Taylor for a layup. The senior did it again 20 seconds later, turning Sharif Holland’s outlet into another transition bucket for a 24-8 lead.
“That wasn’t part of the plan, but I don’t think they accounted for me,” Myrick said. “As my team rebounded, I just leaked out to get a head start and I was open.”
A 37-25 rebounding advantage allowed Mount Pleasant to run at will.
Green Knights coach Lisa Sullivan focused the defensive attention on St. E star Jordan Money, who scored 23 points on Monday as the Vikings (6-1) became the first Delaware team to beat an out-of-state Slam Dunk opponent with a 76-69 victory over St. Raymond (N.Y.). Myrick and his teammates held the 6-3 junior to 12 points on 4 of 11 shooting Tuesday.
“Stop 23, Jordan Money,” Myrick said. “He’s a good player, a key player, so we had to stop him. She told me to go out there and don’t worry about scoring, just stop him.”
The Green Knights also shared the ball, notching 17 assists in their best performance of the season. Mount Pleasant has nine seniors, many coached by Sullivan for four years, and they are familiar with her strategy.
“They know what it’s going to take,” Sullivan said, whose team reached the DIAA semifinals last year. “They know at the beginning of the season, we’re trying to mix new people in. Let’s be a little patient, let’s build.
“It’s not right now. Winning now is a bonus. I want to win game 21, game 22, game 23, when the [state] tournament starts. We have a goal, and each game leading up to that is just a steppingstone to get us to where we want.”
The Green Knights took a nice step forward at the beach.
Contact Brad Myers at bmyers@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @BradMyersTNJ