New coach, same old Greyhounds in win over Pioneers
West Greene's Austin Crouse (14) finds a rare opening in Monessen's defense and sinks a layup during their game at West Greene High School on Jan. 11. The Pioneers are in the playoff hunt as the regular-season nears its end. (Photo by Rob Burchianti)
Monessen's Darnell Howell defends West Greene's Nathan Brudnock (12) during Friday night's game at West Greene High School.
Rob Burchianti I 缅北禁地
West Greene鈥檚 Nathan Brudnock moves the ball up court against Monessen during Friday night鈥檚 game at West Greene High School.
West Greene's Ben Jackson (34) and Gavin Scott (11) battle Monessen's Marquel Smith (13) and Dawayne Howell (right) for a rebound during Friday night's game at West Greene High School.
West Greene's Nathan Brudnock shoots a 3-pointer against Monessen during Friday night's game at West Greene High School. The list of the Pioneers' 1,000-point scorers, which is on display in the background, will soon add Brudnock's name to it as the senior reached that milestone on Jan. 4.
West Greene's Gavin Scott releases a jump shot over Monessen's Dishon Howell during Friday night's game at West Greene High School.
Monessen's Elijawa Payne (4) attempts to block a shot by West Greene's Ben Jackson (34) during Friday night's game at West Greene High School.
West Greene's Nathan Brudnock throws a pass between Monessn defenders during Friday night's game at West Greene High School.
West Greene coach Jim Romanus yells encouragement to his team during Friday night's game against Monessen at West Greene High School.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
West Greene鈥檚 Nathan Brudnock looks for an opening as Monessen鈥檚 Marquel Smith (13) defends during their Jan. 11 game at West Greene High School. Brudnock has been selected to the Greene County Messenger Boys Hoops Team First Team.
ROGERSVILLE 鈥� Monessen was riding an impressive 57-game unbeaten streak in Section 2-A play that dates back to 2012-13 coming into its boys basketball game at West Greene last Friday night.
But a lot has changed for the Greyhounds this season with a new coach and relatively inexperienced starters.
Those changes don鈥檛 seem like they鈥檙e going to slow down the Greyhounds anytime soon though.
Monessen tallied 32 first-quarter points and its press wore down the Pioneers in a 76-26 win in the 缅北禁地 Boys Game of the Week.
鈥淲e did a good job of coming out and setting the tone for the game,鈥� first-year Monessen coach Dan Bosnic said. 鈥淲e showed great effort from whistle to whistle, and the kids were locked in with our game plan. We are sharing the basketball with each other on offense and the kids are just getting open looks.鈥�
Elijahwa Payne registered a double-double for the Greyhounds (6-4, 5-0) with 24 points and 11 rebounds. Devin Whitlock collected 19 points, while Dishon Howell added 13 points.
It was all Monessen early on, as the Greyhounds used their athleticism and tenacious press to speed the game up and force the Pioneers (4-7, 2-3) into turnovers.
When West Greene did break the press, the home team couldn鈥檛 capitalized on its chances.
鈥淲e missed too many foul shots early on,鈥� WG coach Jim Romanus said. 鈥淪o you fight through their press, but you don鈥檛 get any momentum because you missed on the foul line or you miss a close layup. They speed you up and get you out of sync.鈥�
Monessen built a 10-1 lead two minutes in and then scored 11 unanswered points. After West Greene went on a 9-3 spurt, the visitors closed out the opening quarter with an 8-0 run. Payne scored a quarter-high 10 points.
鈥淲e had a lot of good rotations and played really good help-defense,鈥� Payne said. 鈥淲e communicated well on that end tonight. On offense, we just have a lot of good scorers. We have good ball movement and are finding the open man. You just got to take the best shot.鈥�
After the Greyhounds opened the second quarter with an 8-0 rally, a pair of free throws by Nathan Brudnock and a transition hoop by Austin Crouse cut the deficit to 40-16.
Brudnock and Crouse totaled a team-high eight points apiece for the Pioneers.
Monessen then bounced back and steamrolled to the end of the first half on a 13-2 spree. Whitlock scored eight points in the quarter, including the last two via the free throw line.
鈥淒evin is just a freshman,鈥� Bosnic said. 鈥淗e is a high-IQ basketball player and just knows what his role is on this team. He controls the pace of the game for us and pushes the tempo. He can score the basketball too for us. He is very mature for a freshman.鈥�
The Greyhounds invoked the 40-point, running clock mercy rule in the third quarter with a 10-5 scoring advantage. With both team鈥檚 reserves in the fourth quarter, the visitors held a 13-3 scoring edge in the final eight minutes of play.
鈥淲e just need to get better every game from here on out,鈥� Bosnic said. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 overlook teams. We just want to improve as a basketball team every practice and make sure we are fundamentally sound every game.鈥�
Both teams will return to section action on Tuesday, as Monessen hosts Mapletown and West Greene travels to Jefferson-Morgan.
鈥淲e finally got everybody back and healthy,鈥� Romanus said. 鈥淲e still need to mesh on the court and our core kids have to play within themselves. Our biggest concern is just boxing out. We are not athletic enough to out-jump people. We work on it daily, but we still struggle with it. Tonight wasn鈥檛 a good game. We just have to rebound from this one.鈥�