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Cunningham helps Mooney stay hot
By Steve WILAJ
YOUNGSTOWN
Cardinal Mooney’s boys basketball team may be peaking at just the right time.
With Saturday night’s 54-32 victory against Boardman, the Cardinals have five wins in their past six games, including two in consecutive days. And as far as guard Joe Cunningham knows, it’s not by coincidence.
“We started off slow, but all of our seniors and football players are getting back and we’re gonna start rolling here in the second half of the season,” he said. “We’re gonna be tough to beat. I think we’re one of the best teams in the area.”
Mooney (8-6) defeated Canton Central Catholic on Friday night before rolling the Spartans.
“Early in the year we were giving away some games because of foul shooting and other things,” Cardinals coach Brian Danilov said. “But they kept working hard. We finally have a full team that’s healthy and we just have to keep getting better every day.”
They certainly kept that progress going against Boardman (2-14), forcing 19 turnovers and holding the Spartans to 26-percent shooting. Mooney was keyed by a 19-10 second-quarter advantage.
“Boardman tries to control tempo and play to their strengths,” Danilov said. “But we tried to up the tempo a little because we were concerned with the way they drive and kick.”
Preston Stitt led Boardman with 10 points while Ryan Fryda added eight.
“We knew they were gonna run the 1-3-1 zone, we prepared for it, but we couldn’t make enough plays and hit enough shots,” Spartans coach Pat Birch said. “Then they made some plays.”
Cunningham paced Mooney with 17 points, while Tim Durkin and Andrew Armstrong scored seven apiece. Cunningham was coming off a 35-point performance on Friday.
“He’s worked hard at it,” Danilov said of Cunningham. “In the past two years he’s put in a lot of time and he works hard. In practice he doesn’t loaf and that’s what it takes. So he’s been shooting it well.”
Cunningham wasn’t completely satisfied though, as he finished 5 of 14 from the floor.
“I wish [the hot shooting] carried over, but it wasn’t as good as Friday night,” he said. “But I’m not a single player. I’m here to help the team.”
While Mooney picked up two victories for the weekend, Boardman suffered two losses, also losing on Friday to North Canton Hoover.
“We’ve faced a lot of adversity and what I tell this young group is that we just have to keep fighting,” Birch said. “Unfortunately we don’t have as many ‘W’s’ as we would like, but these guys are still giving great effort and I’m proud of them for that.”