Cardinal Mooney bounces Ursuline

By Chuck Housteau

YOUNGSTOWN — The Cardinal Mooney High boys basketball team plays like it is still on the football field.

The Cardinals are strong, quick, and aggressive. They brought all 11 guys at Ursuline in Friday’s 57-42 win in a battle between the two parochial school rivals.

Many of the Mooney players just recently traded in their football pads after winning a state championship on the gridiron and they already have jelled on the hardwood.

Second-year coach Chris Kohl is even surprised at how quickly his 11-man rotation has come together.

“Any time you can come here to the ‘House on the Hill’ and get a win its a really nice feeling,” Kohl said. “Honestly, I thought we would struggle early this season.

“I’m pleasantly surprised at how well we are playing early on.”

The Cardinals (3-1) already own impressive wins over a good Campbell Memorial team and Kennedy Catholic. And they threw a scare into Warren Harding before losing in a close contest.

Against Ursuline, a senior-laden Mooney team jumped on the Irish with a 7-2 start and never were threatened.

Ursuline (1-1) did right the ship for a while in the first half and closed a 16-7 first-quarter deficit to 18-14 midway in the second quarter on a basket and free throw by DeVonte Jenkins.

Mooney kept the pressure and the uptempo style of play throughout the contest by subbing in waves of five new players every couple of minutes.

That strategy paid off in the final four minutes of the second quarter.

“It’s nice when you can bring 11 guys that can play,” Kohl said. “We would bring five guys in and take five guys out and keep that tempo going for as long as we could. It worked to our advantage tonight.”

The second group of five players included senior John Stoops who scored eight of his game-high 15 points in the second quarter.

Stoops scored all six of Mooney’s final points of the period to give the Cardinals a 24-14 lead at the break.

“One of the keys to our team is we have a lot of depth,” Stoops said. “With us all rotating all game, it keeps us fresh.

“I couldn’t have got all those good shots off tonight if all my teammates weren’t doing their jobs.”

Ursuline coach Keith Gunther said that his young team struggled from the start.

“We couldn’t put the ball in the bucket to save our lives,” Gunther said. “They played good smart basketball and we didn’t play fundamental basketball.

“We missed a lot of opportunities but we lost to a very good basketball team. We didn’t play well and that’s disappointing to me.”

Mooney got a lot of points off offensive rebounds although the Irish were much taller and had more overall rebounds.

“We’ve been working hard with the football guys since they came back on scoring inside and tonight it paid off,” Kohl said.

Joe Stoops had eight points and eight rebounds while first-year player Tom Beck, fresh off the soccer field, added seven points and eight rebounds.

The Irish were led by Jenkins who had a game-high 17 points while Jordan DuBose added 8 points and pulled down 9 rebounds.

Daryll Clark, former Ursuline standout quarterback and basketball player, was honored at halftime for being named Co-MVP of the Big Ten along with Michigan’s Brandon Graham.

The Penn State quarterback was presented the prestigious Silver Football trophy by the Chicago Tribune for his play this season.