Wake-up Call
CHERRY TWP — The same struggles that have plagued Moniteau for much of the season showed up again in the first half of Monday’s home game against Keystone.
Poor defense and sluggish offense had the Warriors down by five points at halftime to a three-win Panthers team.
“Defense was terrible and we weren’t rebounding,” said Moniteau coach Mike Jewart. “We’re at our best when we run and for some reason, we pick and choose when we do it.”
Maybe it was the realization that a loss to Keystone would have taken away all the momentum from back-to-back wins last week, victories that moved the team to within a game of .500 after a 5-8 start to the season. In any case, the Warriors played their game over the final 16 minutes and came away with a 70-60 victory.
Chason Rugg led the charge, scoring 22 of his game-high 27 points in the second half, which opened with Moniteau’s 10-0 run.
“Keystone likes to slow things down and we don’t play well at that pace,” said Rugg. “We started to play our pace in the third quarter and it made a big difference.”
While Moniteau shot the ball extremely well over the final two quarters (15 of 21), its defense also stepped up. David Dessicino’s block of a Keystone shot directly led to Rugg’s trey that gave the Warriors a 35-29 lead with 4:10 left in the third period.
Aydan Jackson tallied three blocks in the second half as the Panthers (3-14) attempted to keep up with Moniteau, which put up 24 points in the third period alone.
“When we’re running and making shots, it’s hard for a defense to pick up all our scorers because we have a lot of kids who can score,” Jewart said.
Keystone was tough to shake, however. A three-point play from Dom Corcetti and a trey from Eli Nellis helped pull it within 38-35 with three minutes left in the third, but that was as close as the Panthers got. Rugg capped his night with eight more points in the fourth while Jackson and Andrew Zepeda both knocked down shots from beyond the arc.
Keth paced Keystone with 19 points, Ellis scored 15 and Aiden Patrick held his own inside with 14.
Jackson (14 points), Zepeda (13) and Dessicino (10) joined Rugg in reaching double digits for Moniteau.
The Warriors’ three-game winning streak has come against teams (including Venango Catholic and Forest Area) with a combined seven wins.
“We knew we were hitting a string of games that could help us get back on track,” said Rugg. “I think we can now turn the corner.”
Moniteau (8-8) must finish no worse than .500 to reach the District 9 playoffs.
“We have six games left and I expect us to finish 14-8 ... 13-9 at the least,” Jewart said.
KEYSTONE 60
Dom Corcetti 3 2-5 8, Eli Nellis 6 1-3 15, Aiden Patrick 4 6-7 14, Drew Keth 8 0-0 19, Chaz Renninger 1 2-4 4, Drew Slaughenhaupt 0 0-0 0, Gabe Demmer 0 0-0 0, Xavier Van Tassel 0 0-0 0. Totals: 22 11-19 60.
MONITEAU 70
Chason Rugg 9 4-6 27, Andrew Zepeda 5 2-2 13, Aydan Jackson 5 3-6 14, Landon Kelly 1 1-2 3, David Dessicino 3 4-4 10, Dawson Cook 1 0-0 3, David Martino 0 0-2 0, Connor Ealy 0 0-0 0, Brendin Sankey 0 0-0 0. Totals: 24 14-22 70.
Keystone 14 15 11 20 — 60
Moniteau 15 10 24 21 — 70
3-point goals: Keystone 5 (Keth 3, Nellis 2); Moniteau
Wednesday: Moniteau at Laurel
