After every Mount Vernon win over White Plains I’ve seen over the last six seasons, I’ve gone home and thought of a few things the Tigers could legitimately to do differently/better in order to win the next meeting.

Last night, I couldn’t think of one.

Mount Vernon dominated the Tigers, winning 76-56 at White Plains behind a commanding effort by Kevin Jones in the paint and a strong first-half by Sherrod Wright. Almost everyone in a Knights uniform contributed, whether it was Sean Harris’ two 3-pointers off the bench, the rebounding of Kadeem Dinham and Odayne Clarke, or energetic spark supplied by freshman Jabarie Hinds.

White Plains got a brilliant effort by Sean Kilpatrick, who scored 33 points on 13 of 24 shooting, and still lost by 20. When Kilpatrick had 13 points in the first quarter and Mount Vernon only led 20-15, I thought maybe he just might carry White Plains to a shocking upset.

“The scoreboard was still OK,” Knights coach Bob Cimmino said. “If the scoreboard wasn’t OK, we would have had to make a change.”

It’s a great point. Most teams aren’t going to slow Kilpatrick, who’s a gifted scorer with a bright future. But if teams let him get his 25-30 points and stop everyone else the Mount Vernon did yesterday, the Tigers become very beatable.

Now, back to by original point: What does White Plains have to do to beat Mount Vernon when they meet again on Jan. 29? The answer isn’t simple, mainly because there are just too many.

The Tigers have to rebound better. They have to pressure the ball more. They have to  be more aggressive. They have to penetrate. They have distribute the ball better. They have to defend in the paint. The list goes on.

It’s just a bad matchup for White Plains. The Tigers have two stud scores in Kilpatrick and Rashad James, who will win them the majority of their games. But Mount Vernon has far more size, depth, experience. Those aren’t things you can necessarily fix in a month, if ever.

Mount Vernon hadn’t really clicked as a team until yesterday, which is right cue. It went to White Plains and lost last season, its only Section 1 loss in three seasons for the two-time defending state champs. You knew the Knights were going to put things together and yesterday was an appropriate time.

Even with that said, I still think Mount Vernon has room for growth. Ketema Brooks was in foul trouble yesterday and played limited minutes. Jordan Lessane didn’t put up many shot in an offensive scheme geared towards attacking the undersized White Plains front line. I still don’t think we’ve seen the best of Jones, and I know Clarke is capable of more than the 4.0 points and 4.0 rebounds he’s averaging per game.

Can White Plains get to that level? I would never say never, but it’s going to take a lot. We know Rashad James didn’t play the way he’s capable yesterday, and we sometimes forget that Nick Cutsumpas and Bobby Jones are sophomores in their first varsity seasons. Darrell Ward is 6-foot-6 but has very little experience defending guys headed to West Virginia.

White Plains shouldn’t even think about Mount Vernon at this point. It’s all about restoring its confidence. Tomorrow presents a great opportunity. The Tigers travel to Scarsdale, a potential turnaround game. If they can knock off an undefeated Scarsdale team in its own gym, it’s a huge step in the recovery.

Because as of right now, I just don’t see White Plains beating Mount Vernon.