BOYS GAME OF THE WEEK: Greyhounds bounce back in 83-53 win at West Greene
Holly Tonini
Monessen’s Marc Gibson (25) scores against West Greene during Friday’s WPIAL Section 2-A game at West Greene High School.
Monessen's Jaden Altomore (3) goes up strong against West Greene's Craig Weaver during Friday’s WPIAL Section 2-A game at West Greene High School.
Holly Tonini
West Greene’s Ben Jackson (34) goes for two against Monessen’s Justice Rice (12) during Friday’s WPIAL Section 2-A game at West Greene High School.
Monessen's Vaughn Taylor (2) hits a 3-pointer against West Greene's Eric Stoll (23) during Friday’s WPIAL Section 2-A game at West Greene High School.
West Greene's Craig Weaver (35) looks to make a pass around Monessen's Lyndon Henderson (5) and Vaughn Taylor (2) during Friday’s WPIAL Section 2-A game at West Greene High School.
West Greene's Kolton Rush (13) scores against Monessen's Jaron Youngblood (1) during Friday’s WPIAL Section 2-A game at West Greene High School.
ROGERSVILLE — Facing a first quarter deficit, Monessen bounced back by scoring at least 20 points in each of the next three quarters to prevail, 83-53, over West Greene Friday night in the Herald-Standard Boys Game of the Week.
With the Section 2-A triumph, the Greyhounds (5-4, 2-0) extended their unbeaten section streak to 36 games. Monessen last section loss was to Clairton in 2012-13.
“We finally started to play defense in the second quarter and that finally turned the tide for us,” Monessen coach Joe Salvino said. “We were not playing defense the way we were capable of playing defense to start the game. West Greene got some open looks and we had a tough time with them. It always starts with our defense.”
Jaden Altomore led all scorers in the game with 31 points for Monessen, while Lyndon Henderson and Justice Rice scored 16 and 12, respectively.
“Our defense was so key in the second quarter for us,” Altomore said. “Our press gets everything going for us and it helps out our offense. We score those lay-ups off of turnovers and we have a lot of quickness on defense. We want the game to be fast because that plays to our advantage.”
Craig Weaver grabbed a team-high 14 points for the Pioneers (5-3, 1-1), while Zach McHenry (11), Nathan Brudnock (10) and Kolton Rush (nine) aided the offensive cause for West Greene.
After Monessen held an early 3-2 lead after a trey by Altomore, West Greene responded with the next nine points and scored seven of the final 11 points of the opening quarter to take a 20-11 lead into the second quarter.
“We were making the right passes at the right times in the first quarter,” West Greene coach Jim Romanus said. “We didn’t panic and we limited our mistakes. We boxed out and limited them to one scoring chance. We worked our press breakers and I liked our execution. Unfortunately, we couldn’t maintain that level of play and we were sloppy. Monessen lives off of turnovers.”
The Greyhounds quickly trimmed the deficit in the second, as the visitors compiled 11 unanswered points to retake the lead at 22-20.
After the squads exchanged buckets, Monessen ended the second with an 11-5 spurt that was capped off by a 3-pointer from Jaron Youngblood and an old-fashioned three-point play by Rice.
Altomore tallied 10 points in the quarter and the Greyhounds were up 38-31 at halftime.
“It’s always good to have those couple of different scoring outlets every game for us,” Altomore said. “We have a lot of balance on offense and anyone of us can get hot with our shots. We are always looking to spread the ball around and get everyone involved on offense.”
West Greene countered the late, second quarter surge by Monessen with a run of its own to open the third quarter and cut the deficit down to 42-37.
Monessen’s speed and athleticism on defense was the turning point in the third and in the contest, as the relentless Greyhounds’ pressure defense continued to rush the Pioneers into turnovers and transition hoops for themselves.
“There is no secret to us, we want to run and be up-tempo,” Salvino said. “We like that style and we have the athletes to do it. We want to cause havoc on the court and speed teams up. Besides our defense, I think getting that balance on offense is so important. We can’t have teams key in on one guy. We need multiple threats on offense.”
The Greyhounds ended the third on a 19-7 run for a 61-44 lead heading into the final quarter.
Monessen once again dictated the tempo in the fourth quarter and secured the section victory on the road with a 22-9 scoring edge in the final eight minutes of play.
“I really like our effort, but it’s still a frustrating loss,” Romanus said. “We didn’t play our style tonight. We played theirs with the up-tempo game. We had to slow it down and run our sets. Their speed wore us down and we made some mistakes in some key spots. When you give Monessen any momentum, it’s hard to come back from that.”
Both teams return to section action on Tuesday, as West Greene hosts Clairton and Monessen travels to Mapletown.
“We have to get better every week,” Salvino said. “We can’t rely on what we did yesterday. Every game is a lesson and we have to show improvement as a team. We have faced some tough teams so far and I think that will help us in the long run.”
Section 2-A
Monessen 11-27-23-22 — 83
West Greene 20-11-13-9 — 53
Monessen: Jaden Altomore 31, Lyndon Henderson 16, Justice Rice 12. West Greene: Craig Weaver 14, Zach McHenry 11, Nathan Brudnock 10, Kolton Rush 9. Records: Monessen (5-4, 2-0), West Greene (5-3, 1-1).