East runs past Mooney, 69-49

YOUNGSTOWN — After building a solid lead, the East High boys basketball team ran roughshod over Cardinal Mooney in the fourth quarter of Friday night’s basketball game to capture a convincing 69-49 victory.

East outscored Mooney 22-11 in the game’s final stanza. The Panthers were led by seniors Jarelle Burt and Justin Brown.

Burt sank four 3-pointers in the first half on his way to a game-high 18 points, while Brown scored 15 points and snagged eight rebounds to lead the game in that category.

A 3-point goal was included in Brown’s scoring, and his dunk in the final minute brought a frenzied cheer from the crowd of visiting East fans.

Trumane Jenkins added 13 points for East (8-4).

“I told the team before the game we needed to play an aggressive, fast-paced offense and play good real good defense,” said East coach Mark Cherol. “And we needed to challenge them on the boards.”

Cherol, smiling, said he was satisfied with his team’s efforts.

“It was a team effort,” Burt said. “Coach has taught us to keep a positive attitude and work hard as a team.”

“Coach told us to always play together, and play strong defense,” Brown added.

“I don’t know if we wore them [Mooney] down, but their shots weren’t falling in the second half,” Cherol said.

Mooney (9-4) sank just 7 of 26 shots in the second half Friday, and only 18 of 65 shots for the game. East, on the other hand, connected on 28 of 60 shots from the field.

Mooney was led by junior Danny Reese, who sank Mooney’s only 3-pointer as he totaled 13 points. Joe Stoops and Ryan Gallagher both came off the bench to add 10 points each.

“Talk about taking you to the woodshed and giving you a good licking, that’s what they did to us tonight,” said Mooney coach Chris Kohl said.

“We kept trying to climb back into the game, but our shots weren’t falling. And East took advantage of our miscues.”

Reese scored the first points of the night for Mooney, but Burt and Brown quickly sank 3-pointers to give East an early 6-2 lead. But the team fought an almost even battle in the first quarter, which ended with East in front 14-12.

In the second quarter, East surged out to a 22-15 lead. The Panthers outscored Mooney 8-3 early in the second quarter, a scoring run that included 3-pointers by Burt and Henry.

Mooney pulled back to within three points, at 22-19, but East’s Tyrell Henry connected on a 3-point shot to cap a 9-2 run by East that gave the Panthers their first double-digit lead of the night at 31-21.

The second half started with an 8-2 run that gave East a 42-31 lead. The Panthers led 47-38 at the end of three quarters.

East poured it on in the fourth quarter, outscoring Mooney 12-2 in the final minutes of the game.

“It’s one game, it’s done, it’s over,” Kohl said. “Hopefully, we’ll learn from this and become a better team. We got to play better.

“These guys are resilient. I have faith in them.”