HOWLAND — More of a defensive-minded team, Cardinal Mooney loves to win games outright. Once the outside shots started falling, the Cardinals picked up steam and defeated Howland 49-38 on the road Tuesday night.
Five different players hit 3-pointers for Mooney (2-2), but containing the Tigers’ offensive playmakers from beyond the arc was the focus heading into Tuesday night.
Coach Carey Palermo was pleased with the performance in all aspects of the match.
“We’re working hard on defense and that’s the key for us. I thought we defended well in the first and second quarters and I thought we made the extra pass in the second half. We have some really talented players, but I think they’ve been pushing themselves a little too hard lately.” Palermo said. “They’re trying to take good shots every night and maybe they’re not letting us play, but when we started making the extra passes and sharing the basketball, the circle started to open up.
“We decided to take (Alex Henry) out of the game for (Howland). He’s a great player. Our goal was to shut him down.” He knows how to find his guys. , I found (John Perry) many times. ”
Trailing 7-4 after the first quarter, the Tigers (2-3), along with senior John Perry, attacked the post and put together a 9-0 run late in the second frame to advance Howland. contributed to the attack and launched an attack that included a big hit. He blocked Mooney’s Eddie Nieves to stop the Cardinals’ momentum in the lane.
Howland (2-3) held a 13-12 lead at halftime, but that didn’t last long. Nieves made a 3 in the third quarter and two seconds later fellow senior Rocco Turner made a jumper.
Still leading 19-17, senior Ashton O’Brien hit a triple, followed by Turner with a triple to the left side of the arc.
Up 10 points midway through the period, Mooney felt his confidence grow. Nieves led the visiting Cardinals with 12 points.
“Actually, we were getting a lot of stops on defense. In the second half, that started to become a positive thing for us and we started taking more shots from there.” Nieves said. “Be confident, know what we’re doing and just keep moving forward and enjoying the next play.
“(Perry) is a great guy. He could jump off the gym, so we’d have him crash into the glass and all the other shooters like Henry would just crash the glass and not get shot. I needed to.”
Fellow senior Ghibli Carter scored nine points, including three of his own early in the fourth quarter. Howland slowly chipped away at the free-throw line as Mooney’s fouls mounted, but the Tigers’ efforts fell short.
Carter saw the Mooney team grooving.
“It’s always tough coming into a big environment, but we really played good defense. No matter what kind of ball we’re shooting, we always have good defense.” Carter said. “Keep your energy up. It’s really important to keep up your energy and keep going no matter what.”
Palermo added: “Shooting is contagious. When one person gets it done, it snowballs. We’re putting pressure on the press. Everybody likes to play free-flowing like that.” Yes.”
O’Brien and Turner each scored nine points, and junior Niko Genova had eight points, including two threes. Howland paced Perry’s game-high 15 points, while his senior TJ Douglas, junior Anthony Chieffo and Henry each scored six points.
Tigers coach Dan Boubon felt a series of mistakes late in the game made it even harder for Howland to overcome the deficit.
“We turned the ball over too many times. When we were able to go back and guard five-on-five, we were good, 13-on-12 at the half. In the third quarter, most of their open shots were , I think it came from us turning the ball over, getting caught in transition, scrambling and trying to match.” Bubon said. “They got hot, made some layups, made some threes. A big part of what we did was give them opportunities.
“It builds on itself. Now, you can’t play this game in the interim because there are people who are afraid of making mistakes. This game has to be played really aggressively and In the fourth quarter we didn’t change anything against the pressure, the players just decided to start being more aggressive. We got through it, got some baskets and got into a decent rhythm. is completed.”
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