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Ursuline escapes Mooney’s upset bid
YOUNGSTOWN
For about two quarters, it was hard to tell which team was second-seeded and which was No. 11 in a Division II sectional final on Ursuline’s floor Friday night.
In the end, Cardinal Mooney won the gameplan, but lost the game to the No. 2 Irish, 39-37.
Both Mooney coach Carey Palermo and Ursuline coach Keith Gunther acknowledged the critical contribution of Trace Leonard in the closing minutes.
“Give Trace Leonard credit because our gameplan was to sag off of him and [Dawaylynn] Washington,” Palermo said. “They’re both nice players, but we want to make them beat us.”
Leonard did. His 3-pointer with 2:04 remaining snapped a 31-31 tie and gave the Irish some breathing space before Mooney’s last surge by Alex Wollet and Pat Pelini left the outcome hanging.
Wollet’s 3-pointer at 1:32 and Pelini’s three free throws with 5.7 seconds tied the game for a final time, 37-37, until Dakota Hobbs made two free throws with 0.4 seconds left.
“Trace stepped up and he made it,” Palermo repeated of the 3-pointer by Leonard, a 6-foot senior.
Palermo’s plan did succeed in holding Anthony Howell to seven points after Ursuline’s 6-6 senior entered the game averaging 22 points.
“Our gameplan was to close out their shooters,” Palermo said.
Hobbs added 11 points for the Irish (17-7), who will meet Girard next Thursday in a district semifinal.
Friday’s win represented a three-game season sweep of Mooney by Ursuline’s boys team a few nights after Ursuline’s girls team beat Mooney for a third time this season.
Pelini had 14 points for the Cardinals, who bowed out 8-15.
Gunther said that until the fourth quarter, Ursuline wasn’t playing well defensively.
“We weren’t playing hard because they took us out of our offense by putting two people on Anthony and trying to keep him out of the game by not allowing him to rebound,” he said. “I think we’ve got to play tougher than that.”
Gunther thought that Pelini was unbelievable with his ability to control the ball in all aspects.
“I thought he made plays all night long and often, both offensively and defensively, so he was huge,” Gunther said.
Gunther blamed himself and his staff for a miscalculation in defensive strategy that led to the Irish being overly cautious of Mooney’s shooting ability. As a result, Mooney outscored Ursuline in the second quarter, 14-8, to take a 22-18 halftime lead.
“We played a sagging man-to-man or zone, but when I look back, it was the wrong gameplan because, when we went to the third quarter, we started pressuring it and got the game going up and down for both of us,” he said. “We’re better at a fast-paced game. That’s why we scored some points in the second half — the pressure got us some easy layups, including some steals by Dakota [Hobbs].”
The Irish coach told his players that they can talk about playing bad or playing good, but, in the end, in tournaments, it’s all about surviving.
“If you win by one, that’s all that matters because you get an opportunity to correct the mistakes you made. If you play great but don’t win, what does it matter?” Gunther said.
Gunther complimented Palermo, who was Gunther’s JV coach last season.
“He had a great gameplan,” the Ursuline coach said of Palermo, who teaches social studies at Ursuline. “He’s got a great future.”
Of Girard, a first-time opponent this season, Gunther said, “I’ve seen them play a couple times, so it’s going to be a good game.”
Palermo explained that Mooney’s gameplan was to control the pace of the game and slow them down.
“We really thought that we could dictate the pace of the game and I thought we did. We wanted to play the game in the 40s or lower 50s, but it was In the 30s, so we’ll take that. In the end, we had a couple balls that didn’t b”
our way.”
Howell had only two points through three quarters.
“At halftime, my coach told me to change my game and play more like a man,” he said. “That’s what I tried to come out and do.”