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Fast start powers Mooney to easy victory
By Jim Flick
YOUNGSTOWN
The Cardinal Mooney High boys basketball team jumped out to a big lead over Canfield on Tuesday and dominated the fourth quarter to garner a 52-38 victory.
In between, Canfield out-scored Mooney in two low-scoring quarters.
Mooney coach Chris Kohl called the contest “a break-out game” for a team that had won only a single game.
“The whole concept is a new attitude, the start of the year,” Kohl said. “We’re 2-5, but as far as we’re concerned we’re 1-0. The season starts now for us.”
Kohl said the basketball team struggled early in the season because of the football team’s success. Three of the starters played on the school’s football team, whose season didn’t end until the squad won the Division III state championship on Dec. 2.
One member of Mooney’s football team, senior Ryan Farragher, tallied a game-high 22 points.
Doug Caputo, a 6-foot-4 junior, scored 10 points while pulling down 12 rebounds and senior P.J. Quinn netted 12 points.
Matt Yourtowsky, a senior, scored 18 points for Canfield (3-6). Senior Kyle Brown and junior Conner Kesner each tallied eight points.
“There were some windows of opportunity to make this game closer than what the score says it was,” Canfield coach Todd Muckleroy said.
His team’s efforts were frustrated by what he called “some premature shots” that missed the mark.
“We need to take care of the ball a little bit better, be a little more efficient with the basketball,” Muckleroy said. “We battled with drought. If we’re not making shots, most of the time it’s because we’re not running good possessions.”
Farragher connected on the game’s first three field goals. After senior Joe DeNiro scored, Farragher added another two-pointer to give Mooney a 10-0 lead.
After Brown tapped in a field goal and Yourtowsky launched a three-pointer for Canfield, Farragher added another field.
Quinn then connected for two field goals, giving Mooney a 16-5 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Mooney cooled off in the second stanza, while Canfield rallied. Yourtowsky connected on two three-point shots and a pair of free throws to bring Canfield within four points of Mooney, 20-16.
But Mooney scored the next six points. Farragher sank two field goals, and then Quinn stole the ball from a Canfield player and dribbled in for an easy lay-up. Although Canfield outscored Mooney 11-10 in the second quarter, Mooney led 26-16 at halftime.
The third quarter was even quieter, with Canfield outscoring Mooney 9-8, but trailing 34-25.
“We finally played a good game of basketball,” Kohl said. “In the month of December, we were really struggling. Now, our guys are finally rested up mentally and physically, and ready to go.”