Cugini scores 45 as Aquinas ends Greyhounds’ season
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Monessen鈥檚 Lorenzo Gardner (2) puts up a shot in the lane against Aquinas Academy during Friday night鈥檚 WPIAL Class A consolation game at Monessen. Gardner scored 27 points but the Greyhounds lost, 72-62.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Aquinas Academy鈥檚 Vinnie Cugini attempts a shot jump shot during Friday night鈥檚 WPIAL Class A consolation game at Monessen. Cugini, the WPIAL鈥檚 all-time leading scorer, had a game-high 45 points in the Crusaders鈥� 72-62 win.
Monessen's Davontae Clayton puts up a shot in the lane during Friday night's WPIAL Class A consolation game at Monessen. Clayton scored 17 points but the Greyhounds lost, 72-62.
Monessen's Dante DeFelices (14) takes a jump shot against Aquinas Academy during Friday night's WPIAL Class A consolation game at Monessen.
Aquinas Academy's Vinnie Cugini goes in for a layup after making a steal聽during Friday night's WPIAL Class A consolation game at Monessen. Cugini, the WPIAL's all-time leading scorer, had a game-high 45 points in the Crusaders' 72-62 victory.
Monessen's Davontae Robinson shoots over two Aquinas Academy players聽during Friday night's WPIAL Class A consolation game at Monessen.
Aquinas Academy's Jake Guillen (53) shoots as Monessen's Jaisean Blackman (15) defends during Friday night's WPIAL Class A consolation game at Monessen. Guillen scored 11 points in the Crusaders' 72-62 win.
Monessen's Lorenzo Gardner hits a one-handed shot against Aquinas Academy during Friday night's WPIAL Class A consolation game at Monessen. Gardner scored 27 points but the Greyhounds lost, 72-62.
Monessen's Davontae Clayton (3) defends Aquinas Academy's Vinnie Cugini聽during Friday night's WPIAL Class A consolation game at Monessen.
Aquinas Academy's Vinnie Cugini scores聽during Friday night's WPIAL Class A consolation game at Monessen. Cugini, the WPIAL's all-time leading scorer, had a game-high 45 points in the Crusaders' 72-62 win.
Monessen's Lorenzo Gardner scores against Aquinas Academy during Friday night's WPIAL Class A consolation game at Monessen.
Monessen's Davontae Clayton attempts a 3-pointer against Aquinas Academy during Friday night's WPIAL Class A consolation game at Monessen. Clayton scored 17 points but the Greyhounds lost, 72-62.
Monessen's Davontae Robinson is defended by Aquinas Academy's Vinnie Cugini聽during Friday night's WPIAL Class A consolation game at Monessen.
Monessen's Timothy Kershaw takes a jump shot against Aquinas Academy聽during Friday night's WPIAL Class A consolation game at Monessen.
Monessen's Lorenzo Gardner drives to the basket against Aquinas Academy during Friday night's WPIAL Class A consolation game at Monessen.
Aquinas Academy's Vinnie Cugini (2) watches as his shot floats towards the basket聽during Friday night's WPIAL Class A consolation game at Monessen. Cugini scored a game-high 45 points in the Crusaders' 72-62 win.
Monessen's Rodney Johnson shoots as Aquinas Academy's Jake Guillen defends聽during Friday night's WPIAL Class A consolation game at Monessen.
Monessen's Lorenzo Gardner is fouled as he drives to the basket during Friday night's WPIAL Class A consolation game against Aquinas Academy at Monessen.
Aquinas Academy's Vinnie Cugini attempts a free throw聽during Friday night's WPIAL Class A consolation game at Monessen. Cugini, the WPIAL's all-time leading scorer, had 45 points in the Crusaders' 72-62 win.
MONESSEN 鈥� Aquinas Academy senior Vinnie Cugini went into Friday night鈥檚 game at Monessen knowing a loss would put an end to the WPIAL all-time leading scorer鈥檚 career.
鈥淲e thought about it for sure,鈥� Cugini said. 鈥淎 couple of other seniors talked about it in the locker room. We just knew we were going to come out here and play as hard as we can so we wouldn鈥檛 be disappointed, win or lose.鈥�
It was 鈥渨in鈥� for the Crusaders who topped the Greyhounds 72-62 in a WPIAL Class A consolation game as Cugini racked up a game-high 45 points to increase his career total to 3,153.
鈥淧eople question me every night if I鈥檓 legit or not so it felt good to get the win and get another game,鈥� Cugini said. 鈥淲e鈥檒l see if we can keep it going.鈥�
Aquinas Academy (20-5) can qualify for a spot in the PIAA tournament with a road win against Section 3-A foe Neighborhood Academy on Tuesday. The two split their two regular-season meetings.
While Cugini and the Crusaders live to fight another day, it was the final game for Monessen seniors Jaisean Blackman, Dante DeFelices, Davontae Clayton and Tre Thompson.
鈥淚t鈥檚 tough to say goodbye,鈥� said Greyhounds coach Dan Bosnic, whose team finished on a two-game losing streak that still left it with a stellar 21-4 record for the season. The Greyhounds lost at Carlynton in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
鈥淭hese are kids, Tre Thompson and Davontae Clayton, that have played a big role for us and have done a lot of things,鈥� Bosnic said. 鈥淭hen our captains, Jaisean Blackman and Dante DeFelices, have been here since day one and worked so hard and kind of laid the groundwork of what we want to be about and the things that we want to do as a program. Those are two kids that always do things the right way.鈥�
Monessen found itself down 10-4 with three minutes left in the first quarter, but then ended the frame with a 10-point run to take a 14-10 advantage.
Aquinas Academy answered with a 13-2 run of its own to open the second quarter to go up 23-16 and never trailed again.
Cugini scored seven points in the first quarter and 13 in the second as the Crusaders ended the half ahead 32-26.
鈥淚 was a little tired at the beginning of the game,鈥� Cugini said. 鈥淚鈥檝e been feeling a little sick recently. It took me a few minutes to get into it but once I did I just kept going.鈥�
Aquinas Academy鈥檚 lead ranged from five to eight points throughout the third quarter which ended with the visitors up 53-45 as Cugini rang up 12 more points.
Lorenzo Gardner scored 10 points in the quarter and Clayton had nine as the duo accounted for all their team鈥檚 scoring in doing their best to keep Monessen in the game.
Gardner, who led the Greyhounds with 27 points, scored the first two baskets of the fourth quarter, the second on a coast-to-coast drive, to get Monessen within four.
The Crusaders regrouped and reeled off the next seven points to take their biggest lead of the game, 60-49. The Greyhounds wouldn鈥檛 get closer than eight the rest of the way.
鈥淚 thought our kids were battling and giving us effort but we just couldn鈥檛 ever get over the hump, could never just gain control of that game,鈥� Bosnic said. 鈥淲e were playing from behind and they did a good job of holding us off.鈥�
Clayton finished with 17 points while DeFelices and Timothy Kershaw each scored seven. Jake Guillen added 11 for Aquinas Academy.
鈥淥bviously our focus was on Cugini and he鈥檚 obviously a really good scorer and does a lot of good things,鈥� Bosnic said. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 meet that challenge.鈥�
It wasn鈥檛 only Cugini鈥檚 scoring that hurt the Greyhounds, according to Bosnic.
鈥淥ne of the keys was the offensive rebounds he got, just going after the basketball,鈥� Bosnic said. 鈥淭hose second opportunities and his willingness to get to the hoop and our inability to get there to challenge him I thought was truly the difference.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e an awkward team to play. We wanted to attack them offensively and we had opportunities to play through the middle and down the sideline and we didn鈥檛 always do a good job of that. We didn鈥檛 always make the best basketball play.
鈥淏ut they鈥檙e a quality team, they鈥檙e kids play hard so they definitely deserve the credit for the result tonight. They did the things they needed to do to win.鈥�
Bosnic reflected on the Greyhounds鈥� season.
鈥淲e鈥檙e proud of the kids and the effort they鈥檝e given this year,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e had a lot of good results, won a lot of close games and that鈥檚 a credit to them. They played hard.鈥�