By DAN STILLWELL
for the Daily Telegraph
COAL CITY — When two basketball teams are evenly matched, it eventually comes down to execution.
Independence's defense took away Mount View's outside shot, forcing the Golden Knights to go inside.
Mount View, in turn, didn't hit its lay-ups.
Simple as that, the 4-1 Patriots came away with a 64-55 victory Tuesday night at Coal City.
"Talk about two evenly matched teams," Independence coach Chad Perkins said. "We played them three times last year and they beat us twice. We knew it would be like this tonight."
It had been a spirited game throughout, often pitting Independence's half-court game against Mount View's transition.
Yet at times, the reversed it. Indy got several fast break buckets in the fourth quarter, while the Golden Knights found the open man with authority for a series of 3-pointers that cut a 16-point deficit down to five points with 2:46 remaining to play,.
Neither team shot well early, but backup guard Kyle Saunders came in with a bang, making two steals and scoring seven points to push the Patriots into a 16-12 lead at the first quarter's end.
Mount View (1-3), although hit by early foul trouble to big men Kenny Brown and Jaquane Imes, reeled off seven consecutive points to temporarily take the lead, 21-18.
Independence's steadiest player so far this season, Tyler Haga, then erupted for nine of his 11 points to give Independence a 36-26 lead at the break.
"The most frustrating thing was we kept turning over the ball," Knights coach Gary Brown said. "It's hard to stay in games against good teams if you're going to do that."
Neither team made much headway on the other in the third quarter. Another player off the Patriots' bench, guard Adam Tolliver, nailed a pair of treys and a deuce, while Mount View answered with 3-point shots from De'Mani Edwards, Brown and Joe Hayes to make it 53-42 going into the final period.
Markus Guy scored off three Mount View turnovers to push Indy's lead to 58-42, before two jumpers from Brown and a 3 by Edwards cut it to five at 53-48.
Perkins extended his defense, and Mount View couldn't get a good look from outside. The Knights missed three crucial lay-ups against Indy's four-guard defense, while Tolliver sank a couple of foul shots and Guy and Haga both scored on fast breaks.
"Our zone forced them to take a little time on offense," Perkins said. "Logan Kelly and Aaron Hunt did a nice job rebounding the ball because Mount View is an offensive-rebounding machine. You might not have seen it tonight because we made a point of emphasis out of it."
Guy finished with 17 points and three blocked shots. Aaron Hunt scored 12 points, Haga had 11 and Tolliver had 10. Haga also had eight rebounds and three steals, while Saunders likewise had three thefts.
"Different people at times carried us," Perkins said. "With this team, there's nobody you can key on. It's a different guy each night."
Kenneth Brown and Imes led Mount View with 14 points apiece. Omes also had seven rebounds.
"We didn't defend well tonight, and we had lapses with turnovers," said Brown, whose other losses were by two points to Man and by one point in overtime to PikeView.
Mount View will play Monday in the Chapmanville Holiday Tournament, while Independence will play Tuesday at Meadow Bridge.

MOUNT VIEW (3-1)
Sidney George 0 0-0 0, De'Mani Edwards 3 0-0 9, Kenneth Brown 6 1-1 14, Joe Hayes 2 0-0 6, Kobe Brown 0 0-0 0, JaQuane Imes 5 4-7 14, Ellis Bryson 1 0-0 2, Marquis Bonds 5 0-1 10. Totals: 21 5-9 55.
INDEPENDENCE (4-1)
Tyler Haga 4 2-2 11, Kyle Saunders 3 0-1 7, Adam Tolliver 3 2-2 10, Chris Mills 2 0-0 5, Markus Guy 5 6-7 17, Logan Kelly 0 2-2 2, Aaron Hunt 5 2-2 12. Totals: 22 14-16 64.
Mount View..................12 14 16 13 — 55
Independence..............16 20 17 11 — 64
3-point goals: MV: 6 (Edwards 3, Brown, Hayes 2); I: 6 (Haga, Saunders, Tolliver 2, Mills, Guy). Fouled out: Players.