Strong finish lifts Mooney past Boardman

By Steve WILAJ

sports @vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Boardman just wouldn’t go away.

As they did all night, the Spartans — who entered Saturday’s final quarter down eight points to Cardinal Mooney — made one final push late in the fourth as back-to-back 3s by Brian Fryda cut the deficit to three with 2:11 remaining.

“They kept battling with us, so we realized we had to pick it up,” Mooney forward Andrew Armstrong said. “We kept battling, too.”

After a timeout, the Cardinals responded to Boardman’s final push by closing the contest on a 10-0 run to defeat the Spartans, 53-40.

“We finally started moving a little bit more,” Mooney coach Brian Danilov said. “The three days off because of the weather and us not being allowed to practice did not help. So I’m happy we got this win over a good team.

“We were really stagnant and lethargic at times, but my assistants did a good job of getting guys in good places today and getting them where they needed to be.”

With Mooney (13-7) ahead 43-40 with 2:11 remaining, Armstrong was fouled and connected on two free throws out of the timeout. Antonio Bruno and Armstrong then converted consecutive layups to stretch the lead to nine, before Trell Thomas capped the spurt with two free throws and a layup.

“Armstrong made a couple of plays — we knew they were going to him — and there were some 50-50 balls we kind of bobbled and didn’t secure,” Boardman coach Pat Birch said. “If we do that, it might be a different game. Those points push [the deficit] from three to seven points and all of a sudden it feels like its 20.”

Armstrong paced the Cardinals with 16 points and 12 rebounds, while Bruno scored a game-high 19 points. Gannon Murray scored 10 points for Boardman (9-13), which fell behind 10-0 after the first quarter.

“It’s not the first time we’ve started slow in the first quarter — don’t really know what the answer is for that,” Birch said. “We had a similar situation last night at Fitch. We finally caught our stride a little bit, but you can’t spot a team like Mooney 10 points.”

Boardman used a 19-15 second quarter advantage to cut the deficit to 25-19 at the break. But the Spartans — who shot 15 of 45 from the field — were outscored 28-21 in the second half.

“We had a good first quarter but a slow second quarter,” Armstrong said. “They started coming back, so we had to close out on shooters and play physical. We just played good defense, most importantly, and took good shots. That took care of it.”

The contest marked Boardman’s final regular season game, while Mooney still has two games remaining before postseason tournaments. The Cardinals next play at Fitch on Tuesday.