STEEL VALLEY CONFERENCE Mooney tops Spartans to go 11-0

In an early-season showdown, Mooney and Curtis Ingram bested Boardman and Matt Marks -- barely.
By CHUCK HOUSTEAU
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
BOARDMAN -- Two of the Steel Valley Conference's top players, Cardinal Mooney's Curtis Ingram and Boardman's Matt Marks, hooked up in a scoring dual Saturday night at Boardman's gymnasium.
Ingram outscored Marks 28-24 and his Mooney teammates helped the Cardinals pull out a down-to-the-wire 58-56 victory over the Spartans and remain undefeated (11-0, 1-0) for the season.
Marks missed a 15-foot jumper at the buzzer that would have sent the contest into overtime.
Ironically, while the two players put on a great show most of the night, other than Marks' final attempt at the buzzer, neither player took a shot in the final 2:42.
It was their teammates that figured prominently down the stretch for both teams.
Hehr connects
Mooney's Jeff Hehr hit two huge 3-point shots in the final minutes. The first at 2:11 gave the Cardinals their first lead of the fourth quarter. Hehr's second 3-point attempt at 1:36 enabled Mooney to regain the lead again 55-52.
"I just wanted to help us get back in the game," Hehr said. "After the first one I wanted the second one. [David] Zidian gave me a perfect pass and it was there. I didn't even look, I knew it was going in."
Also, free throws by Mark Seddon and Ron Stoops helped to seal the victory.
Boardman got heroics from Mike DeOnofrio, whose play on both ends of the court gave the Spartans and Marks the final chance to tie the game.
DeOnofrio delivers
With Boardman down 57-53, DeOnofrio hit a basket with 1:04 left and then seconds later stole the ball off a Mooney defender and was fouled on a lay-up attempt. The senior hit one of two free throws to pull the Spartans to within a point.
Stoops' free throw with 18.4 seconds left was the margin of victory.
Hehr said it has always been a team effort with the Cardinals.
"Curtis is our leader," Hehr said. "But we're a team. We get it done together."
Mooney coach Nick Bellino was pleased that his team was able to persevere down the stretch.
"We've played some tough road games lately," Bellino said. "We had to make some adjustments at halftime and improve our shot selection in order to win this game."
Boardman improved
Boardman (1-7, 0-1), on the other hand, has been playing better of late but still hasn't been able to get over the hump.
Besides Marks' impressive 10-of-15 shooting effort, Boardman's Jay Davis added 12 points and five rebounds, while DeOnofrio chipped in with 10 points.
"This is a brutal learning lesson for us," said Boardman coach Dan Gorski. "I'm very happy with our physical effort, but it's the mental mistakes that are killing us."
For Mooney, Ingram led all rebounders with nine boards, while Hehr had nine points, Zidian eight points and Stoops seven points.