Dec 1, 2002 By Jim Kriek For The 3 min read

Tom Traynor is better known as a coach than he is as a musician, but he must have gone home Saturday night, humming that old song “What A Difference A Day Makes.” Friday night, his Mount Pleasant cagers had a bad night all around against Laurel Highlands. Saturday night they did an about face and battled Connellsville down to the final seconds of the game before losing to the Falcons, 46-40, in a Laurel Highlands Shootout Tournament match.

The Vikings led 15-13 after one, then CAHS took over 24-22 at intermission and 34-28 after three before Mount Pleasant found the range again in the fourth.

Down six to start the final period, the Vikings got moving behind Dave Gesinski and Dave Flaherty, the latter hitting four in a row on the line, and Drew Pennline one to pull the Vikes within one, 38-37, with 2:49 left to play.

Kevin Bell put up a recovery, and Chad Burton went up the lane to give Connellsville a five-point edge, 42-37, and Burton added a free throw at: 35 to make it 43-37.

Gesinski cut it to three, 43-40, with a long three-pointer, but that was as close as MPHS would get.

Mike Fetsco and Burton added free throws in the closing seconds to set the final edge.

Traynor said, “I think we got over our first-game jitters, and we moved tonight. We did a good job defending them, and all around, it was a good early-season game for both of us. We made a lot of progress in 24 hours.

“The big point for us was we got a good game from our front line players, and we kept good pressure on them with our half-court trap. This has to be a big boost to our players for now they see that they can play with the bigger guys.”

Connellsville coach Mike Bosnic also cited the Viking defense, noting, “You have to give Mount Pleasant a lot of credit for the way they played. Their 1-3-1 half-court trap slowed us down, and they in turn took advantage of that. Coach Traynor had a good game plan, and we couldn’t get into any kind of offense. We are going to have to make a lot of improvement before we head into our regular season schedule.”

James Hairston was high for Connellsville and the game with 22 points before fouling out with 1:09 left.

Bob Patula led Mount Pleasant with 15 points, including three basket-foul combinations in the first quarter.

Bell, Hairston, and Gesinski were named to the all-tournament team, along with Brian John and Paul Briczinski of Laurel Highlands and Paul Hlatky of Brownsville.