WEST SUNBURY, Pa. (EYT/D9) — Trailing by 18 midway through the second quarter, the Moniteau boys basketball team closed the quarter on a 16-4 run, cutting the deficit to seven, en route to a 67-65 victory over Clarion-Limestone on Friday evening.
Chason Delarosa-Rugg, Andrew Zepeda, and Aydan Jackson paced the Warriors with a combined 47 points with 20, 17, and 10 respectively.
(Pictured above, Chason Delarosa-Rugg)
“We’ve had a long history of C-L handling us pretty good and that was my concern at the start of the game,” said Moniteau coach Mike Jewart. “We fell behind and I just told our guys we had to go out and play our game. We just had to bring the energy and the physical game back at them and I think they got the message. Once we got a couple buckets and a couple stops, we attacked the rim and it started paying off.”
C-L also had three players in double figures with Jase Ferguson connecting for 18 points despite fouling out late in the fourth quarter. Jack Craig added 17 points, including three shots from beyond the 3-point line, and Jack Callen added 11 points with eight rebounds.
Clarion-Limestone Area High School sports coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Redbank Chevrolet and DuBrook.
“We came out of the gates really well and I thought we were in the driver’s seat there,” said C-L head coach Pat Craig. “The game kind of changed in the second quarter with the fouls and such. But that’s basketball with the ups and downs and you have to fight through that stuff. We need to learn how to adjust to that and despite all that we still gave ourselves a chance at the end.”
After giving up the opening points of the game, the Lions proceeded to go on a 19-0 run to take a 19-2 lead.
C-L (0-1) finished with a 23-10 lead after one quarter.
The Lions would build the lead to 32-14 with 4:09 to play in the second quarter. Ten of the 16 points during the final run for Moniteau came from the foul line.
Moniteau finished the game 22-of-27 from the free throw line while C-L finished 17-of-27 at the charity stripe.
The Warriors would continue to battle back in the third quarter, eventually building a 45-44 lead — their first since going up 2-0 — with just over three minutes left in the third. The Warriors would lead by four 51-47 after three.
The lead would grow to seven at 57-50 early in the fourth before the Lions battled back with a 10-2 run to take a 60-59 lead with the last five points of the run coming on a 3-pointer by Kohen Kemmer followed by a steal and layup from Ferguson.
Ferguson would hit a pair of short jumpers sandwiched between a 3-pointer and a short jumper by Delarosa-Rugg, which would give Moniteau a 65-64 lead with 1:07 to play.
Each team would convert 1-of-2 free throws between the 18 and 10 second mark. Delarosa-Rugg would make one of two free throws with nine seconds remaining. C-L would grab the rebound of the miss and race up court, but the Lions would misfire on a pair of short jumpers, allowing the Warriors to hold on for the 67-65 win.
“This win tells me that we’re a resilient team,” said Jewart. “We thought we should have a good team. In a game like tonight where we got smacked in the mouth a bit with that early deficit and being able to come back. Hopefully this win means the guys will be able to take that next step and we can build on it throughout the rest of the season.”
Clarion-Limestone Area High School sports coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Redbank Chevrolet and DuBrook.
