MOONEY GETS DRAMA FROM THE JUMP
LIBERTY OH- Cardinal Mooney and the Leopards faced off in Liberty to start the season Tuesday night. Mooney comes into the year having won the district championship in each of the last two seasons. The Leopards were eliminated by Cardinal Mooney at home last season in the district semifinals. Each team had to replace a number of key players from a year ago as Mooney brought up five guys to the varsity program and Liberty brought up eight new players.
The lack of experience was evident early on in this one as neither team had much of a shooting rhythm in the first quarter as a tight defensive battle gave way to a 6-5 Mooney lead heading into the first break of the night. However, after such a slow start each team began to click as we reached the halfway point of the night as Nick Pregibon for Mooney led all scorers going into halftime with 8-points and for a few minutes had taken over the Cardinals offense. But the Leopards would not be denied from distance as they cashed in on five threes from Silas Robinson, Bra‘Sean Black, and Dearmani Franklin in the second quarter to take a 22-15 lead into the break.
With fresh legs and a revamped defensive scheme Mooney was able to retake control of the game out of the halftime break as Jibri Carter and Rocco Turner finally hit a switch after combining for just 3-points in the first half as they drained shot after shot. The Leopards went a little chilly from range in the third and that allowed Mooney to sneak right back in. They went into the fourth quarter in a 1-point game thanks to a buzzer beater three from Carter 34-33 with the Leopards still out in front. Both teams gave it their all in the final quarter of play as Kalen Turner got hot from deep. But the defending district champions would not be denied a win to start the season as they were able to hit clutch shots in the late stages and near perfect free throw shooting put them in position to win despite a late Leopards push.
Mooney took home the season opening win 47-43 over the Leopards who drop to (0-1) on the season. Both teams will look to continue to build the chemistry with their younger teams as the season rolls on as Mooney will stay on the road as they visit Boardman this Friday, and the Leopards will remain at home to host the Warren G. Harding Raiders on Friday. Player of the game went to Jibri Carter as he finished the game second on the team in points with 11 and was given the award for his outstanding shooting down the stretch that flipped the momentum away from the Leopards and gave his team all that they needed to take home the win. Rocco Turner led Mooney with 13 points and Kalen Turner led all scorers with 14 points.
*Contributed By YSN’s Alek Koberna
