CHERRY TWP — Chason Delarosa-Rugg knew the look he was going to get from his head coach as he went to the bench late in the first quarter.

Not a good one.

Delarosa-Rugg had just committed his second personal foul, deep in the backcourt, with only three seconds left in the quarter. Moniteau’s junior point guard had to sit out most of the second quarter as a result.

“I was pretty upset with that one myself,” Delarosa-Rugg admitted.

He more than made up for that mistake.

Delarosa-Rugg scored 17 of his game-high 20 points in the second half, leading the Warriors (5-5) to a 63-54 home boys basketball win over Union that snapped a three-game losing streak Saturday afternoon. The victory was Moniteau’s first since Dec. 22.

“Our kids played well together today,” Moniteau coach Mike Jewart said. “We always preach about sharing the basketball and we did that in this game. Chason kept his composure and never lost focus.

“When he got back in the game, he made a huge difference. He’s developed into the leader of this team and that’s what we want him to be.”

The score was tied seven times Saturday and the lead changed hands on four occasions. The lead switched hands for the final time on a Delarosa-Rugg trey with 37 seconds left in the third quarter. That gave Moniteau a 48-46 advantage.

Union (6-4) hung around, however, A pair of of buckets by Zander Laughlin pulled the Golden Knights within 52-51 midway through the fourth quarter. Moniteau answered with a 9-0 run to snare a 61-51 lead with 32 seconds left.

“I loved the way we closed out this game,” Jewart said. “Instead of flying down the court and throwing up a shot, we pulled it out, showed patience and waited for the good shot.”

Delarosa-Rugg sank a trey and as layup, Andrew Zepeda a pair of free throws and David Dessicino a layup during that game-clinching 9-0 run. Union was held to eight points in the fourth quarter.

“This is a tough loss,” Golden Knights coach Eric Mortimer said. “We stopped executing against their 1-3-1 zone in the fourth quarter. We stopped running plays that were working earlier.

“Chason is a great player. He got hot in the second half and hurt us. But we didn’t answer.”

Delarosa-Rugg credited his teammates for sparking his offensive production in the second half.

“We executed plays as a team,” he said. “I was getting open off some great screens by David Dessicino and David Martino was finding me. I had some open looks and was able to make them.”

Jewart said Delarosa-Rugg can “become virtually unstoppable if he continues to develop his mid-range jumper. He can already hit the 3’s and drive to the basket.

“He hit some mid-range shots today and you saw the difference.”

Martino had 14 points, seven rebounds and six assists for the Warriors. Aydan Jackson scored eight points, grabbed five rebounds and had five assists. Colton Thomas snared eight rebounds.

Payton Johnston paced the Golden Knights with 17 points, but did not score in the fourth period. Laughlin had 14 points, five rebounds and five assists, Dawson Camper 10 points and 15 boards.

“Dawson is probably averaging about 15 rebounds per game,” Mortimer said. “We’ve got some big guys who are hard to defend and keep off the boards.”

“Laughlin is a big body (6-foot-4, 250 pounds) who can shoot from outside,” Jewart said. “He dropped in 31 points against somebody in a recent game. We were wary of him.

“Union is a definite threat in single-A in this district. This is a nice win for us.”

UNION 54

Skyler Roxbury 2-10 2-4 6, Dawson Camper 4-9 0-0 10, Owen Bish 0-0 0-0 0, Trey Fleming 3-7 1-3 7, Payton Johnston 8-14 0-0 17, Hayden Smith 0-1 0-0 0, Zander Laughlin 6-15 0-0 14. Totals: 23-56 3-7 54.

MONITEAU 63

Chason Delarosa-Rugg 8-13 0-0 20, Connor Ealy 0-3 0-2 0, David Martino 5-9 0-1 14, Andrew Zepeda 0-6 2-2 2, Aydan Jackson 4-8 0-0 8, Landon Kelly 2-2 0-0 4, David Dessicino 4-4 0-0 8, Dylan Bush 0-2 0-0 0, Colton Thomas 3-7 1-2 7. Totals: 26-54 3-7 63.

Union 14 19 13 8 — 54

Moniteau 16 15 17 15 — 63

3-point goals: Union 5 (Camper 2, Johnston, Laughlin 2); Moniteau 8 (Delarosa-Rugg 4, Martino 4)

JV: Union, 52-44 (U: Gage Jordan 15, Owen Bish 11; M: Brendin Sankey 13, Dawson Cook 11, Landon Kelly 11)

Tuesday: Moniteau at Slippery Rock

Thursday: Cranberry at Union