Host Mount Vernon defeated the Oak Harbor High School boys basketball team 74-60 to grab third place in the Bulldog Holiday Classic Tuesday, Dec. 30.

Oak Harbor hung around the entire game, but Mount Vernon was able to hold off the Wildcats by taking advantage of its opportunities.

“I thought we got the shots we wanted, they just didn’t fall,” Wildcat coach John Weston said. “Mount Vernon, on the other hand, knocked down the open ones. That was the difference in the game.”

The Bulldogs (3-6) led 14-9, 35-26 and 50-40 at the quarters.

“We had moments when we played great defense,” Weston said, “but other times we left their shooters wide open.  The bigs also attacked well and hurt us on the inside.”

Those bigs, 6-5 Ryan Kennedy and 6-3 Damian Ibarra, scored 16 and 11 points, respectively, for the Bulldogs. Payton Frey led with 20.

Dyllan Harris scored a game-high 22 for Oak Harbor.

Weston said Harris was “very efficient,” “shot a high field goal percentage” and “got his teammates involved.”

Zach Jones added 13 points, Diangelo McKinney seven, Preston Rankin six, Anthony Powell four, Ben Fikse four, Sean Erskine three and Josh Cote one.

“We played better tonight than we have the last couple of games,” Weston said. “It is still a work in progress.”

Oak Harbor (1-8) is off until Friday, Jan. 9, when it opens Wesco North play at Stanwood (5-4) at 7:15 p.m.