Greyhounds’ rally falls short in 43-40 setback to Bishop Canevin
Darnell Graham
Monessen鈥檚 Marquell Smith delivers a one-handed slam dunk in Friday鈥檚 Section 2-A game against Bishop Canevin at Monessen High School. Smith scored a game-high 15 points, but the Greyhounds came up short, 43-40.
Darnell Graham
Monessen鈥檚 Dawayne Howell puts in a layup against the defense of Bishop Canevin鈥檚 Nevan Crossey in Friday鈥檚 Section 2-A game at Monessen High School. The Crusaders鈥� Dom Elliott watches the play.
Darnell Graham
Monessen鈥檚 Marquell Smith attempts to dribble around Bishop Canevin鈥檚 Ngai Avery in Friday鈥檚 Section 2-A game at Monessen High School.
Monessen's Dawayne Howell attempts to dribble around Bishop Canevin's Dom Elliott in Friday's Section 2-A game at Monessen High School.
MONESSEN 鈥� Monessen battled back in the fourth quarter and had a chance to send Friday鈥檚 Section 2-A battle with first place Bishop Canevin into overtime, but the Greyhounds couldn鈥檛 get the tying shot to fall in a 43-40 setback at Monessen High School.
The Crusaders improved to 9-0 in section play and 14-3 overall, while the Greyhounds fell to 6-2 in league action and 6-11 overall. Bishop Canevin has a two-game lead in the section standings with three games to go.
Monessen has a one-game advantage over Geibel Catholic in Section 2-A with four games to go. The Greyhounds are at the Gators on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
鈥淲e are going to take something from this game, learn from it and get ready for a challenge against Geibel in section play,鈥� Monessen coach Dan Bosnic said. 鈥淭he goal is to continue to get better and put ourselves in a position to hopefully get in the playoffs and be successful.鈥�
Monessen trailed 33-21 heading into the fourth quarter, but Bosnic鈥檚 team outscored the Crusaders, 19-10, and had the ball with 4.7 seconds remaining coming out of a timeout and trailing by three. The Greyhounds didn鈥檛 get off the best shot and Bishop Canevin鈥檚 bench raced onto the floor to celebrate.
鈥淚t didn鈥檛 wasn鈥檛 the shot we wanted to take, and we didn鈥檛 do a good job of executing that last play,鈥� Bosnic said. 鈥淲e have struggled to score and we have to get transition baskets. We also missed some easy layups. We are really not a jump shooting team, either.鈥�
Monessen鈥檚 Carleton Jones scored eight of his 12 points in the fourth quarter. Teammate Marquell Smith had four of his game-high 15 points in the final period. The Greyhounds鈥� Dawayne Howell had four of his 10 points in the fourth. Monessen鈥檚 lone three-pointer came in the final eight minutes, as Dylan Bradshaw connected from behind-the-arc.
鈥淚 was proud of how the kids responded there at the end and put ourselves in a position to come back and win the game,鈥� Bosnic said. 鈥淚 think that Carleton has progressively gotten better throughout the course of the season. I think we have tough kids here in general, and you see that play out throughout the course of the game where they are willing to battle, sacrifice and put themselves in a position to win a basketball game.鈥�
The Greyhounds had an 8-4 lead with 2:52 left in the first quarter after Smith threw down a one-handed slam dunk on a fastbreak. The Crusaders closed the period on a 7-0 run for an 11-8 advantage heading into the second.
Bishop Canevin outscored the home team, 13-5, in the second period for a 24-13 halftime lead. The visitors had a 9-8 edge in the third.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we did a good job in the first half of rebounding the basketball,鈥� Bosnic said. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 do a good job of sprinting back, so we gave some easy ones away. We kind of put ourselves in a whole.鈥�
The Crusaders鈥� Dom Elliott had 14 points on five field goals (two 3-pointers) and was 2 of 2 at the foul line. He also pulled down six rebounds. Teammate Kevaughn Price added 10 points.
Howell had seven rebounds and Monessen鈥檚 Ronza Ford pulled down six boards.
Both teams struggled from the foul line, as Bishop Canevin was 4 for 11 and the Greyhounds were 3 of 10.
鈥淵ou have to execute from the free-throw line,鈥� Bosnic said. 鈥淲e get opportunities at the foul line, and it is something we have to focus on, work on and get better at.鈥�