Cougars shut down Greyhounds
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Monessen鈥檚 Davontae Robinson tries to maneuver through Carlynton鈥檚 defense during Wednesday night鈥檚 WPIAL Class A playoff game at Carlynton.
Monessen's Davontae Clayton puts up a shot over Carlynton's Pete Gargis聽during Wednesday night's WPIAL Class A playoff game at Carlynton. Clayton scored seven points in the Greyhounds' 62-39 loss.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Monessen鈥檚 Lorenzo Gardner takes off on a fast break during Wednesday night鈥檚 WPIAL Class A playoff game at Carlynton. Gardner scored a game-high 22 points but the Cougars won, 62-39.
Monessen's Dante DeFelices goes in for a layup after a steal during Wednesday night's WPIAL Class A playoff game at Carlynton.
Monessen's Timothy Kershaw (1) defends Carlynton's Chase Jones聽during Wednesday night's WPIAL Class A playoff game at Carlynton.
Monessen coach Dan Bosnic and assistant coach Craig Rice (right) shout instructions to their players during Wednesday night's WPIAL Class A playoff game at Carlynton.
Monessen's Lorenzo Gardner hits a free throw during Wednesday night's WPIAL Class A playoff game at Carlynton. Gardner made 12 of 15 free throws in scoring a game-high 22 points but the Cougars won, 62-39.
Monessen's Davontae Robinson attempts a jump shot during Wednesday night's WPIAL Class A playoff game at Carlynton.
Monessen's Lorenzo Gardner puts up a shot in traffic during Wednesday night's WPIAL Class A playoff game at Carlynton.
Monessen coach Dan Bosnic has a discussion with an official during Wednesday night's WPIAL Class A playoff game at Carlynton.
Monessen's Dante DeFelices comes away with a steal during Wednesday night's WPIAL Class A playoff game at Carlynton.
Monessen's Lorenzo Gardner takes a jump shot聽during Wednesday night's WPIAL Class A playoff game at Carlynton.
CARNEGIE 鈥� Monessen鈥檚 boys basketball team is known for its defense but it got a taste of its own medicine at Carlynton on Wednesday night.
The third-seeded Cougars鈥� pressure stalled the Greyhounds鈥� offense and forced a slew of turnovers which they converted into easy baskets on their way to a 62-39 victory in a WPIAL Class A quarterfinal playoff game.
鈥淲e鈥檙e very active and really aggressive and our guys are in the right place to force teams to turn it over,鈥� Carlynton coach Jake Trombetta said.
The Cougars (16-6) advance to the semifinals where will they will face a familiar foe in second-seeded Union. The two met twice during the regular season in Section 1-A play with the Scotties winning both games, 62-60 and 57-54.
Carlynton鈥檚 Austin Milliner and Jaiden McClure led a balanced scoring attack against the Greyhounds with 14 points apiece. Chase Jones followed with 12 points and Devonte Dean and Pete Gargis added nine and eight points.
Lorenzo Gardner made 12 of 15 free throws in scoring a game-high 22 points for sixth-seeded Monessen (20-3) which also got seven points from Davontae Clayton.
The Greyhounds鈥� season isn鈥檛 over. Monessen will host Aquinas Academy 鈥� which fell to Union, 100-47 鈥� on Friday in the first of two consolation games it would need to win to earn a spot in the PIAA tournament.
鈥淲e have another opportunity to play basketball,鈥� Greyhounds coach Dan Bosnic said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e excited to get into the play-in game and hopefully play good basketball again.鈥�
Monessen鈥檚 Jaisean Blackman scored the game鈥檚 first basket but the Cougars reeled off the next 11 points. Gardner made six straight free throws as the Greyhounds closed the first quarter on a 6-4 run but still trailed 15-8.
Carlynton exploded to a 13-2 run to start the second quarter to take a commanding 28-10 advantage and Monessen never got closer than 15 points the rest of the way.
鈥淥ur non-conference schedule was really tough and I think it helped us to prepare for a team like this, so we were kind of used to their level of athleticism, quickness and physicality,鈥� Trombetta said of the Greyhounds.
Bosnic lamented his team鈥檚 slow start.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 do a good job of handling their pressure early in that game 鈥� just not handling the basketball and getting in the spots and executing when we needed to,鈥� Bosnic said.
鈥淭he other part of it was we knew we would have to win rebounding and they got second opportunities early in the game. We tried to keep them in front of us and wanted them to make challenged shots over us but I thought we kind of paid for that because we didn鈥檛 do a good job of boxing out.
鈥淲e let the game get away from us at the start.鈥�
The Cougars pushed the margin up to 31 midway through the third quarter to invoke the mercy rule.
Even so, there was no giving up by Monessen. The Greyhounds outscored Carlynton 17-9 the rest of the way and it wasn鈥檛 against reserves as both coaches had several starters in until the end.
鈥淚 was proud of that,鈥� Bosnic said. 鈥淚t would鈥檝e been easy to quit there and that鈥檚 just not the type of kids we have. Our kids are tough and they kept playing.鈥�
Bosnic was ready to quickly put the loss behind him and move on to the next challenge which will be against the WPIAL鈥檚 all-time leading scorer in Vinnie Cugini.
鈥淲e鈥檙e just going to go and try to clean this up and fix the things we need to fix,鈥� Bosnic said, 鈥渁nd turn our attention to Aquinas.鈥�