Dec 17, 2003 By Mike Ciarochi 3 min read

CONNELLSVILLE – You’d think Connellsville boys basketball coach Nick Bosnic would be satisfied after his team knocked Laurel Highlands from the ranks of the unbeaten with a 75-54 win. You’d be wrong, however. The Falcons weren’t quite perfect enough, despite running their Section 2-AAAA record to 3-0 and overall mark to 6-2. And, no, it wasn’t enough that Connellsville dropped LH to 5-1 overall and 2-1 in section games.

“This was no where near our best game,” Bosnic said. “As we got a lead, we got loose and our defense allowed way too many baskets under the hoop.”

Bosnic got 22 points from James Hairston, 19 from Kevin Bell and 13 from Terrence McCrae and led most of the game. Laurel Highlands got 14 points from Andre Ramsey, 13 from J.T. Stefanik and 11 from Ken Riddell.

The Mustangs played the game without senior guard Corey Nesser, who suffered a severe middle ankle sprain last Friday. Nesser will be out of action until January at least.

“Against a quality team, you can’t beat yourself,” Mustangs coach Mark John said. “In the first half, we did a few things that weren’t so good.”

Like commit turnovers. Laurel Highlands had trouble with Connellsville’s pressure defense and committed 15 of their 26 turnovers in the first half, as the Falcons eased into a 28-19 lead. Laurel Highlands led, 4-0, but Connellsville ran off 11 straight to take the lead for good.

Still, a nine-point halftime lead was all Connellsville had to show for its effort. The Falcons took total control early in the third quarter with a 9-2 run that made it 37-21 and the Falcons led, 50-37, after three quarters. Connellsville nailed three straight three-pointers to open the fourth and their lead had grown to 59-42.

“They just gave us so many open shots,” Bosnic said of the Mustangs. “That’s not what we want all the time, but we hit them tonight. When you trap, that’s what happens.”

“They have a very good team and they knocked down the threes when they needed them,” John said. “Plus, they executed an excellent defensive scheme against us.”

The Falcons were denying shots all over the floor, but according to Bosnic, the intent was much more simple than that.

“We wanted to take away J.T. Stefanik and not let them get rebounds,” he said. “Chris Pepe did a good job of keeping him out of the lane.”

There wasn’t much scoring in the early going, with neither team scoring until LH got on the board with 6:03 left in the first quarter. Connellsville didn’t score until 5:17 remained. To Bosnic, it was a sign of the Falcons’ patience.

“They were in all of those junk defenses, triangle-two, box-and-one,” Bosnic said. “It’s going to take time to get easy baskets against those defense. We just had to move and look for easy ones. It took time, but we got it.”

Overall, though, Bosnic was not as pleased as you might expect.

“You try to play your best every game,” Bosnic said. “As a coach, when you don’t get it, you’re not satisfied. And I’m not satisfied.”

Needless to say, John wasn’t satisfied, either. He refused to use Nesser’s absence as an excuse.

“I just challenged the guys to step up,” he said of his post-game comments to his team. “I have confidence in all of our guys. Whoever we put on the floor, I have confidence that they can do the job. We will step it up and we will become a better team because of this.”

Connellsville visits Albert Gallatin Friday, while Laurel Highlands visits Ringgold. Both are section games.