Barring some kind of unforeseen snowfall, yesterday will probably be the longest day of the week. Our crew showed up at the County Center by 11:30 or 12 and didn’t leave until almost midnight. So once “Kevin”:http://kickoff.lohudblogs.com finished his story on a wild Peekskill-Port Chester game, he, Alex Myers and I all went out for something to eat. Again, I was woefully malnourished and needed food, which was nothing Candlelight wings and a grilled cheese sandwich couldn’t fix.

Anyway, as we ate, Kevin, Alex and I — as we usually do at these postgame meals throughout the year — talked about what we saw. Most of it is fun stuff, like how Kevin saw the Clark Academy coach get birthday cake smashed over his head, or us retelling some stupid question we asked that left a poor player wondering: “Was that English?”

But the reason I tell you about our late-nite dinner is because over the course of our meal we periodically saw highlights from yesterday’s games and I kept having the same thought: I can’t believe Mount Vernon won.

Now, I know that sounds disrespectful, but it is not. I knew the Knights were really good before yesterday’s Day 3 marathon ever began. I just kept seeing their faces on the screen and thinking back to December when nobody would’ve ever thought a championship game appearance was possible. Now, all night I was told by everyone how good they were. What a difference a few months can make, huh?

The incredible thing last night was that at no point during Mount Vernon’s 65-47 victory over Ursuline did you ever question which team was better. For a quarter, they were equals, but for three quarters they were not. The Knights were faster, more aggressive and worked harder, and they deserved to win.

“As you can read in my story, Kwinnyata Mercer and Nadia Duncan were the two best players on the court.”:http://lohud.com/countycenterhoops Their ability to handle the ball and either run the offense or go 1-on-1 was the key on one side of the court. Here’s why: 1. Because Tricia Liller was hounding Lynasia Frazier at the point, and 2. Because Mount Vernon felt it could beat its defenders to the basket.

“Ursuline’s a much bigger team, but we knew we were a lot quicker than them,” Duncan said after the game. “We just wanted to keep taking the ball to the basket.”

But I thought the Knights were equally disruptive defending their own end of the court. As you’ll read, they caused 26 turnovers, and it was the others who were there to force the action. Three players who did most of the scrambling were Frazier, Candiese Williams and Carece Moore, and all turned frantic defense into offense, either for themselves or for someone else. Moore, her aunt, the head coach, reminded me after the game, didn’t play during either of the team’s regular-season meetings. Trust me: She is among the reasons Mount Vernon is clearly better.

No matter what happened tonight, I’ll stand by what I said last night: Mount Vernon and Ursuline will play in some form (semifinals or finals) next year at the County Center. They, along with Ossining, are the early favorites for the ‘08 Class AA gold ball.

PEARL RIVER 50, BEACON 43: I wish I had more specifics to offer on this one, but I’m pretty sure I’d have no thumbs to hit the space bar if I didn’t file my story at some point during the game. (Editors don’t like to wait for stories.)

From what I did see, and from talking to Jake, who covered the game, the Pirates did not play their best game, and I was really surprised to hear that. They’ve been so solid the last month or so, but perhaps they’ll have more in the tank on Sunday. Clearly, Kaitlyn O’Keefe did her thing to help bail Pearl River out — she scored half her team’s points and made all her free throws — but Taylor Wilson, with 13 points, seven rebounds and three steals, had another nice game, too.

Beacon proved that maybe I had underestimated it. As some of our posters have already pointed out, the Bulldogs didn’t shoot well but still hung close the entire game. Again, I didn’t watch closely for enough of the game to share many detailed thoughts, but Kara Trancedi looked like someone we’ll see here again over the next two years.

Star of the day: Kwinnyata Mercer and Nadia Duncan, Mount Vernon — I was told in December by coach Moore than they’d be two of the 20 best players in the county by end of the season. Duncan? OK, I knew that, but Mercer too? Well, if you don’t believe in them both now, you’re simply not watching. The two juniors combined for 51 points and 23 rebounds to lead the Knights to their first championship game since 2004. At every step of the way last night, they were there to pull ahead of the Koalas and then fend them off. Impressive stuff. Top 20 in the section for sure.