Winning streak continues for Monessen in Class 2A 1st-round victory over Jeannette

By: Jose Negron
Tuesday, February 22, 2022 | 10:11 PM

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After finishing the regular season with 15 consecutive wins and a Section 4 title, the Monessen boys basketball team continued its winning ways in its postseason opener Tuesday night.

It didn’t come easy, though.

Fifth-seeded Monessen was forced to hold off a late charge by No. 12 Jeannette en route to a 69-59 victory in the first round of the WPIAL Class 2A playoffs on Major Corley Court.

The Jayhawks (10-12) cut their deficit to six with under three minutes remaining in the game, but the Greyhounds (19-4) hit necessary shots and free throws down the stretch. It allowed them to secure a trip to face No. 4 Greensburg Central Catholic in the quarterfinals Friday at Norwin.

“We knew what this game would be like coming in. When we drew Jeannette, we knew it would be a tough game, and they made it that way,” Monessen coach Dan Bosnic said. “Their kids compete, and I thought at times we struggled with the pace of the game and didn’t handle ourselves very well as a result of that. We were able to get spurts where we were able to turn them over and get easy baskets, and I think that was probably the difference in the game.”

Monessen held a seven-point edge heading into the fourth quarter and quickly pushed its lead to 12 behind five straight points from Lorenzo Gardner.

Free throws from Shane Mickens and Jalen Bass and a floater by Anton Good cut the deficit to eight, but five Monessen free throws were sandwiched in between a pair from Good to push the Hounds’ lead to 11.

Monessen maintained its 11-point cushion for more than a minute before a three-point play by Mickens and a layup by Good made it 58-52 with 2:34 remaining.

Rather than letting the Jayhawks muster additional momentum, the Greyhounds regained control, allowing seven points in the final two minutes and sinking their final seven shots from the free-throw line.

“We had our chances,” Jeannette coach Adrian Batts said. “This is a tough place to play, and this was really a great high school playoff game. I just wish we would have made more shots, got ourselves a little bit closer and gave ourselves more of an opportunity to win.”

Jeannette made things even more interesting in the third quarter as Monessen was held scoreless for the first four minutes.

The Hounds, who led 33-23 at halftime, saw their lead trimmed to two as a pair of early buckets by Good and Mickens later were followed by another basket from Good and a steal and a layup by Isaiah Mallich.

Gardner scored Monessen’s first three points of the quarter, including two that came off a Jeannette turnover, to make it a five-point game, but four straight points from Mickens cut the lead to 36-35 with 2:03 to go.

A few of Jeannette’s 10 turnovers in the quarter occurred in the final 1:46 as Monessen used a 10-4 run to extend its lead to seven heading into the fourth.

Davontae Ross and Kody Kuhns hit crucial 3-pointers during the late spurt.

“When it comes to playoff basketball, you can’t turn the ball over, and you can’t miss free throws and layups, and we missed quite a few easy opportunities,” Batts said. “Monessen has some length, and they forced us to take some erratic shots. I thought we handled their defense pretty well, but we just had too many turnovers.”

Jeannette led 16-15 after one quarter before Gardner scored six points during a 9-0 run that gave Monessen a 24-16 lead in the second.

The Jayhawks scored seven of the next nine points to cut their deficit to three, but a surge of seven unanswered allowed the Hounds to take a 10-point cushion into the half. Kuhns drained a trey during the run and converted on a shot inside at the buzzer to push the lead into double digits.

“Our kids really fought that last possession out,” Bosnic said. “There was a lot of unselfishness there and we were able to find an easy shot.”

Despite struggling to the tune of a 3-for-18 performance from the free-throw line, Gardner was Monessen’s top catalyst on the offensive end of the floor.

He scored 15 of his team-high 25 points in the second half, including seven of Monessen’s 13 third-quarter points. Gardner was backed by an 18-point, eight-rebound performance from Kuhns.

“I think our kids have shown those characteristics where they’ll keep fighting and keep battling through adversity,” Bosnic said. “Things obviously didn’t go our way for a large portion of that game, but we kept playing and doing the things we needed to do to be successful.”

Good, who averages 16 points per contest, played a huge role for the Jayhawks as he poured in a game-high 28 points to lead the way. Mickens added a 14-point performance to provide much-needed secondary scoring with senior Nasheed Thompson out of the lineup due to injury. Thompson leads Jeannette in scoring at 17.5 points per game.

“If Nasheed plays, I think it’s a different game,” Batts said. “We have a better chance to win if we play that way with him in there.”

Tags: Jeannette, Monessen