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HOT AND COLD REWARDS
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Shane Stevens of Fitch shoots past Chuck Gruber of Mooney during Tuesday action at Fitch.
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William Mahone of Fitch drives to the hoop past Donald D'Alesio of Mooney during Tuesday action at Fitch.
By Joe Scalzo
Balanced attack propels Mooney to victory
The Cardinals kept Fitch under 50 to earn a snack session.
AUSTINTOWN — For the second straight game, the Mooney High boys basketball team joined the “50-and-under club.”
The reward? Free pizza and, more importantly, a W.
The Cardinals outscored Fitch 14-7 over the final five minutes to pull away for a 55-48 victory on Tuesday.
“We call it the ‘50-and-under club’ and that’s our goal every game, to hold the other team under 50,” said Mooney coach Chris Kohl, whose team held East under 50 in its previous game. “We’re really happy with that.”
Mooney won Tuesday’s game with defense, but it also won it with balance.
Nine Cardinals scored at least two points (none higher than 11), nine Cardinals grabbed at least two rebounds (none higher than six), eight players dished out at least one assist and seven players grabbed at least one steal.
Senior Ronnie Martino — the team’s only senior starter — scored six of his nine points in the fourth quarter and also dished out his only two assists over that stretch as the Cardinals (5-3) held off Fitch’s rally.
“We’ve been in a lot of close games so we knew we could do it,” said Kohl, adding that the team gets free pizza when it holds the opponent under 50. “They were coming back and we weren’t finishing shots, so I told the guys to finish strong.”
Jeff Chahine scored a team-high 11 points off the bench and Chuck Gruber added 10 points and six rebounds.
The Cardinals’ key was patience. When they worked the ball around and made an extra pass, they were able to get an easy layup.
When they didn’t, they didn’t.
“Exactly,” said Kohl. “Sometimes we get into a ‘My turn, your turn’ type of deal.
“But they did a real nice job down the stretch. I was really pleased with our execution.”
Some of that is due to chemistry, Kohl said.
“We’ve done a lot of work in the summer and a lot of these juniors have played AAU basketball since the fifth grade, so they really know each other,” he said. “Then you add in a senior like Ronnie Martino, who is real athletic.
“I think we’re really going in the right direction.”
Fitch, meanwhile, is adjusting to a more half-court defensive attack — the Falcons started the season as a trapping team — and the loss of junior Jon Ballard, who quit the team two games ago to focus on football. Ballard, a Division I caliber football prospect, was one of the team’s top scorers.
Consequently, the Falcons are still struggling with inconsistency, and not just on defense. The patience that delivered easy baskets for Mooney’s offense too often resulted in turnovers for Fitch.
“Inconsistent is probably a good word for us,” Fitch coach Roger Day said. “When they [Mooney] had 20 or 30 seconds, we broke down. That’s a result of switching in the middle of the season. We haven’t really had time to work on things.”
Freshman William Mahone had team-highs with 13 points and eight rebounds for the Falcons (2-8), showing poise and polish beyond his years.
Senior John Williams added 10 points, five rebounds and three assists while junior Terry Terrigno also had 10 points. Sophomore Shane Stevens hustled his way to eight rebounds.
scalzo@vindy.com