Brutal non-section slate has Monessen battled-tested
AVELLA 鈥� Monessen entered the Section 2-A part of its boys basketball schedule as a winless team, and not long after that its 66-game section winning streak was halted in a close loss at Bishop Canevin.
The Greyhounds now sit a 3-1 in section play after an 84-53 win at Avella on Tuesday night and are still a threat for another first-place finish despite a 3-8 overall record.
Marquell Smith poured in a game-high 26 points and DaWayne Howell added 21 as Monessen wore down the Eagles. The Greyhounds led 22-12, 38-19 and 62-40 at the breaks.
鈥淚 thought we showed some areas of improvement,鈥� Monessen coach Dan Bosnic said. 鈥淚 thought our energy was better. Defensively we did some good things.
鈥淲e missed a ton of easy layups and that鈥檚 an area where we need to get better and take advantage of those opportunities that we are getting.鈥�
Carleton Jones also hit double figures for the Greyhounds with 12 points. Taylon Lowe and Dylan Bradshaw added nine and eight points for Monessen.
Gabe Lis topped Avella (1-3, 4-8) in scoring with 16 points. Tyler Cerciello followed with 12 points and Brandon Samol added 11.
Bosnic isn鈥檛 concerned about his team鈥檚 overall record. The Greyhounds have played seven non-section games and lost them all. None of those was against a Class 1A team. The opponents included three 6A teams (Norwin, Upper St. Clair and Peters Township), two 5A teams (West Mifflin and Franklin Regional), one 4A team (Mount Pleasant) and one 3A team (South Allegheny).
There鈥檚 a method to that madness.
鈥淲hen you鈥檙e seeing Upper St. Clair and Peters Township and Norwin, Franklin Regional, and the teams that we do play in non-conference, you hope that those opportunities that you have against those teams prepare you to win section basketball games, because there鈥檚 obviously a difference there,鈥� Bosnic said. 鈥淲e just hope that we can go forward and get better from those experiences.鈥�
Bosnic is aware of the possibility that so much losing during the non-section slate could have a mental effect on his players, and has take steps to prevent that.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a fine line,鈥� said Bosnic, who guided the Greyhounds to the PIAA semifinals a year ago. 鈥淚t really is. With our guys or any young player, when you鈥檙e getting your butt kicked it can have a negative impact. But we work really hard to try to build our guys up and get them to understand that we play a non-conference schedule like that to win games at the end of the season.
鈥淲e want to get ourselves to the playoffs and win games and be successful in the playoffs, and I think that鈥檚 how you go about doing those things, you face that adversity and have those experiences early on and, hopefully, it prepares you at the end.鈥�
Monessen has three more non-section games on its schedule and, like the previous seven, none are against 1A competition. They include Belle Vernon (4A), Washington (3A) and Sewickley Academy (2A).
Right now the only game Bosnic is focusing on is the 1A game lying ahead tonight.
鈥淲e have a big one at our place against West Greene,鈥� Bosnic said. 鈥淓very section game is important.鈥�
Clearly the ultra-challenging non-section ones play their role, too, in the grand scheme of things for Monessen.