How Eli Jones, Maddox Hamilton led Mount St. Mary to 47-point playoff rout at Chandler
CHANDLER — Eli Jones figured it was time for Mount St. Mary to hit the reset button.
Following the Rockets' two-point district win over Eufala, Jones felt the team needed a heightened sense of urgency. So, after arriving at Freeman Fieldhouse in Chandler on Thursday, Jones emphasized the importance of giving maximum effort to his teammates for all 32 minutes.
It didn't take long for Mount St. Mary to reciprocate his challenge soon after.
"Our main mindset was just getting back from what we did last Friday," Jones said. "Last Friday was too close of a game, so we had to come out here and make a statement."
Jones scored 12 points while dishing off six assists to spearhead 10th-ranked Mount St. Mary's dominant 74-27 rout over Chandler on Thursday in the Class 3A regional basketball playoffs. With the win, the Rockets advance to take on Jones on Saturday as both teams now have an automatic bid into the area playoffs.
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"Every day in practice, we've been preaching to each other about how important this moment is for us," Jones said. "We're all trying to win, so walking in before games and having the right mindset makes us a great team to come out and play how we did tonight."
Mount St. Mary (20-5) came out scorching from the opening tip-off, opening the contest on a 13-2 run. Thanks to the stout interior defense of Rockets big man Jodie Shavers, Chandler's (20-5) twin tandem of Jaydan and Jordan Denson struggled to capitalize on looks at the rim.
Jones scored 10 first-half points as the Rockets led by 18 at the break. Rockets guard Maddox Hamilton began to heat up after halftime. The freshman nailed four three-pointers in the third quarter and finished the night with a game-high 15 points — all of which came from beyond the arc.
"I didn't have a good first half, but I went into the locker room and told myself I'd be OK," Hamilton said. "All season long, we've tried to make it a habit to have more energy and effort than the other team, and we showed exactly that tonight."
Thursday's win extended Mount St. Mary's win streak to 10 games, as they've now won 14 of the last 15 games heading into the area playoffs. They're defeating teams by an average margin of 15 points during that span.
The Rockets' winning ways have been a theme of the season as they matched up well against teams in nearly every class in Oklahoma. They've recorded an above .500 record versus 5A, 4A, 3A and 2A competition.
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Most impressively, the program has succeeded despite a recent change of scenery. The Rockets are led by second-year head coach Andre Dawkins, who spent his collegiate playing career at Duke, where he won a national championship in 2010.
Mount St. Mary has gone 39-11 in Dawkins' short time since being hired to take over in July 2022.
"The last two years here have been great mostly just because I really enjoy going to war with this group of guys," Dawkins said. "They work their butts off, and you can see it on the court. The most gratifying thing up to this point is how far we've come from the beginning of the season."
"They've stayed at it all year, and that's all you can ask for from a group like this. We're starting to see those dividends pay off from early on and hopefully, we can continue that trend as we move forward."
Jordan Davis covers high school sports for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Jordan? He can be reached at jdavis@oklahoman.com or on X/Twitter at @jdavis34_. Sign up for The Varsity Club newsletter to access more high school coverage. Support Jordan’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Mount St. Mary routs Chandler by 47 points to advance to area playoffs
