MOONEY RULES THE ROOST IN YOUNGSTOWN
By Matt Maher
YOUNGSTOWN, OH – Some days you’re feeling good and some days you’re feeling great and on Saturday afternoon Cardinal Mooney felt the latter when they traveled to Valley Christian and dominated with a capital D. The Cardinals never looked off and their shots reflected that in the final score which ended as a 75-45 win for Mooney.
Mooney came out with a statement and that statement was “get out of the way, we’re going to score” and score they did as they put up 22 points to the Eagles 8. Mooney saw some great scores from the likes of Nick Pregibon, Nico Genova and Jibri Carter but it was Ashton O’Brien who dazzled in the first. O’Brien put up 9 points including two elite looking 3’s and a beautiful drive to the net that resulted in an and-1 that he delivered on. The Cardinals would just be getting started while the Eagles just couldn’t get much past Mooney’s defense but what they did get through was 4 points for Deion Miller and two more scores from two separate sources.
Valley Christian looked much better in the second and as a result they doubled their score from the first with 16 points. Jaylen Robinson hit a dramatic and-1 and Patrick Riley went 3-for-4 from the stripe. While we saw some good individual efforts from the Eagles we saw greatness from Ra’Shaun Bell who found 8 points against a menacing cardinals defense. Bell had two field goals but he also went a perfect 4-for4 from the line which helped, not only himself, but his team find more confidence.
While Valley Christian looked better, Mooney was still, well, Mooney and they put up 24 more points to end the half with 46 points! Pregibon added to his total with two and-1’s and O’Brien found two more points for his day but the real story was Carter who not only found 7 points but also hit his 200th career 3-pointer and cemented himself in school history!
Valley Christian continued to stay consistent into the second half. The Eagles found 11 points in quarter number three with 5 of them coming from Robinson and 4 more coming from Bell. Mooney started to settle down a bit by only scoring 20 points with Carter putting up 7 more points including his 201st 3 and O’Brien and Pregibon both found 5 points.
The final frame went by in a flash due to Mooney scoring enough to trigger the running clock and as a result saw them only score 9 points as a team with Carter scoring 4 more to end his night at 20 points. Valley Christian was able to out score the Cardinals in this frame but finding 10 points with 6 of them coming from Bell with a nice 3 and yet another and-1, he would end the game with 18 points.
While Cardinal Mooney played an exceptional game, Valley Christian still looked very good defensively but just left some holes that were just big enough for Mooney to squeeze through which was ultimately what allowed Canfield to put up 75 but if anything they still played a good game and proved that the score doesn’t tell the whole story. Cardinal Mooney (6-3) will continue their road trip when they travel to East Liverpool on January 5th at 7:00PM while Valley Christian (3-3) stays home when they host Lowellville on January 2nd at 7:00PM.
