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Mooney pulls off Big Red upset
By Gary Housteau
YOUNGSTOWN
Cardinal Mooney won the battle on the boards and at the free throw line — particularly late in the contest — en route to a 51-42 upset victory on their home hardwood over Steubenville.
Nine different Cardinals had at least two rebounds in the game led by Pat Brennan’s seven and Luke Pecchia’s five, while Pete Haas, Alex Wollet and Anthony Fire all had four apiece. Mooney hauled in 35 rebounds while Big Red had 24 boards.
“We just outworked them,” Mooney coach Carey Palermo said. “They had a big size advantage. We were definitely outmanned as far as size. That big kid, (Charles Reeves), was an absolute monster. And I think we had to win the 50-50 balls and that’s just the kind of team we need to be. If we’re going to beat you we have to outwork you.”
Offensively, however, it just took a while for both teams to consistently put the ball in the basket as Steubenville led 14-11 after one quarter and just 17-16 at the intermission.
“I just think we didn’t come out and play very well in the first half,” Steubenville coach Mike Haney said. “And then in the second half, we’ve come out in the second half and played well before but we just didn’t do it.”
Haney also credited Mooney for outplaying his team.
“Hats off to them they were ready to play,” he said. “They played a lot harder and they got the loose balls and the offensive rebounds more than we got tipped balls. So they were ready to play and they made their foul shots when they had to.”
Steubenville led by as many as seven points in the third as Big Red’s Charles Reeves started to win some battles inside. Reeves, who had 12 of his 13 points in the second half, had two thunderous dunks in the third and two more in the fourth.
“He played a real good second half but we needed something from him in the first half too,” Haney said. “That would have been nice. That would have helped.”
Mooney just chugged along the whole time and probably played their best overall game of the season.
“We’ve just been looking for a game where we can put four quarters together and tonight we did it,” Palermo said. “We’ve been telling our guys once we get one of those wins, once you figure out you can do it, we’re going to be fine. It’s just a matter of putting it together and doing it and tonight we did.”
There seemed to be so many contributors on both ends of the court and senior Jay Raymer, with 10 points, was certainly one of them.
“He’s a guy that’s been waiting his turn and his number got called tonight and he responded,” Palermo said. “How many big shots did he hit? Every time we needed something he seemed to come up with a big three, or a big defensive rebound or make a key pass. I’m damn proud of him.”
Raymer was happy with his team’s performance overall.
“It’s about time we put it all together,” he said. “And I feel like it’s a first step in a lot of good things to come for the rest of the season.”
Individually he certainly was proud of his effort.
“It was like the first big game I had this year,” Raymer said. “So it feels nice to finally have all your hard work pay off.”
Haas led Mooney (4-9) with 14 points and Gentile added 11.