Monessen grabs second place by defeating Geibel

By JOE SABOLEK

MVI Sports

As Monessen entered Friday’s matchup with Geibel, both teams were hoping to take sole possession of second place in Section 2-A.

The Greyhounds used a huge first half for a 55-41 win over the Gators, who played without leading scorer Enzo Fetsko.

In the opening 16 minutes, Monessen’s stifling defense held Geibel to nine points. The Greyhounds’ full-court press forced the Gators to turn the ball over 11 times.

“Any time in a half where you give up only nine points, you’re playing really good defense,” Monessen head coach Dan Bosnic said. “Because of that we were able to get easy transition baskets and (long passes), which led to some easy points in the first half.”

The Greyhounds came out firing from 3-point range as Taylon Lowe connected on one and Dylan Bradshaw followed that with a pair.

Dawayne Howell knocked down a pair of free throws and Carleton Jones scored on a putback to put Monessen (2-8, 2-1) up 13-0 before Ryan Anderson finally got one to fall for the Gators halfway through the first quarter.

The onslaught continued as the Greyhounds finished the quarter on an 11-2 run, taking a comfortable 24-3 lead going into the second.

“Taylon and Dylan are both capable of doing those things and we expect them to do it going forward,” Bosnic said. “It was really big for them to get out to a good start, it allowed us to get out to the big lead.”

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