WARREN Balanced Mooney overtakes Kennedy

Curtis Ingram had an outstanding game with 20 points, five assists and four rebounds.
By DOUG CHAPIN
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
WARREN -- The Cardinal Mooney High basketball team had more balance in all phases of the game Saturday as the Cardinals posted their first victory of the season, 62-47, over Warren John F. Kennedy.
"We're a young team and we're still trying to find ourselves," Mooney coach Nick Bellino said.
"With all the sophomores we have playing, there is a lot of uncertainty," Bellino said. "It will probably take several games before we start feeling confident."
Junior Curtis Ingram had an outstanding overall game for the Cardinals with 20 points, five assists and four rebounds. He was 8-of-19 shooting from the field and 4-of-5 at the line.
Mooney had plenty of balance as seniors Joe Burke and Rashad Williams added 14 and nine points, respectively.
Burke had seven rebounds and sophomore starters Jeff Hehr and Ron Stoops added seven and six, respectively, as the Cardinals held a 35-19 edge on the boards.
Rebound: The Cardinals were coming off a season-opening loss at Orange. Bellino said it was difficult to gauge the progress his team has made.
"It's hard to rate the two games. Orange had a big team with guys 6-7 and 6-5 and Kennedy has a strong perimeter game," Bellino said.
Sometimes the contest seemed like a junior varsity game as four of the 10 starters were sophomores and there often were six or seven 10th-graders on the floor at the same time.
What little experience Kennedy (0-3) had coming into the season has been further depleted by injury. Luke Vincer, a 6-5 junior post player, has missed the last two games and is expected to be out another two weeks.
Senior guard Chris Macali, who scored 16 points Friday in a loss to Champion, broke his wrist in that game and could miss up to four weeks.
Sophomore Colin Clemente (21 points) and junior Keith Black (19) combined for 40 of the Eagles' 47 points.
"We're getting a lot out of the young kids. It's not showing up in the W column, but they are getting better," JFK coach John Condoleon said.
Halftime lead: Mooney led 15-12 after one quarter and used a 9-0 run early in the second frame and a 6-0 run to close out the first half to compile a 31-18 intermission lead.
JFK was within 11 twice in the third quarter and for the final time at 48-37 after Black started the scoring in the fourth quarter with a 3-point shot.
Mooney's largest lead the rest of the way was 58-40.
The Cardinals shot 23-of-51 from the field and 16-of-21 at the line. Their excellent man-to-man defense held Kennedy, a solid outside shooting team, to 14-of-50, including 3-of-19 from 3-point range.
"I told the kids that this year we would build our team on our man-to-man defense," Bellino said. "We'll tweak it here and there, but basically we'll be a man-to-man team."