Published: December 02, 2008 10:59 am            

Rams Notebook: Murphy earning his playing time

By JEREMY HALL

jeremy.hall@register-news.com

ALTON — As the Rams worked to find their identity last week at the Alton Tip-Off Classic, one thing became apparent: Logan Murphy will be part of it.

Murphy, one of two juniors on a senior- and sophomore-dominated roster, played in the Rams’ season opener against Alton on Monday at the round-robin tournament. But it was after an ankle injury to senior Bryce Kujawa, who led Mt. Vernon in scoring on Monday, that Murphy was thrust onto center stage.

The 6-foot, 2-inch Murphy responded to his larger role by sinking 47.6 percent (10 of 21) of his 3-pointer attempts and averaging 11.3 points a game over the Rams’ final three contests.

“I think Logan has gotten a great opportunity to show he can not only play varsity basketball, but be very successful,” said Mt. Vernon coach Scott Gamber, whose team finished 2-2 at Alton. “Now, we know the rest of the year he’s a guy that’s got to be on the floor a lot.”

Murphy nearly single-handedly revived the Rams amid a Carbondale scoring run on Friday, draining back-to-back 3-pointers and scoring on a steal and layup all within one minute. The result was Mt. Vernon’s climbing to within a point of the Terriers after having appeared to be down for the count.

Murphy’s outside shot is not new to the Rams, who last year saw the then-sophomore make it all the way to the state finals in the Country Insurance Three-Point Showdown. Murphy connected on nine of 15 attempts in the finals’ preliminary round at Carver Arena in Peoria.

Murphy was among a host of Rams players who saw action at Alton. In his team’s 63-39 blowout win against Chicago Collins on Saturday, Gamber was able to empty his bench near the end of the game.

The playing time will help his team’s younger players, Gamber said.

“It’s tough for the JV guys whenever you play the first four games and there’s not a JV game. It was nice that they got to play a little bit, got to have a little bit of success. Because with six seniors our JV team is next year’s varsity team. They’ve got to be ready to step up.

“As the season goes on, some of those guys that maybe didn’t play a lot in this tournament are going to have to step up and be contributors.”

HONORED: Murphy and senior Jacob Alvis were both named to the all-tournament team at Alton.

Murphy scored 11 points against Belleville East, 14 against Carbondale and nine against Collins, while Alvis averaged 13 points and nine rebounds a game over the four contests at Alton.

“I thought both were very deserving of it,” said Gamber.

MISSING IN ACTION: Several of the contenders at Alton last week were without some of their players. Belleville East was without eight players due to school disciplinary measures, while Alton and Carbondale both had players missing and Mt. Vernon played its final three games without Kujawa, an all-tournament player a year ago.

“We benefited greatly from East’s situation,” said Gamber.

“But we’ve been hurt bad by Bryce’s. Carbondale has a kid out and Alton’s big kid [was] out.”

Despite entering the tournament with a numbers-lacking roster, East won the event after defeating Carbondale 63-50 and Alton 55-53 on Saturday.

        

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