KARNS CITY, Pa. (EYT/D9) — After Luke Cramer hit an acrobatic, off-balance, contested 3-pointer from the top of the key with a little more than three minutes remaining in the third quarter, Karns City held a 27-point lead over rival Moniteau.
It looked like a done deal for the Gremlins.
But Moniteau had other ideas.
(Pictured above, Karns City coach Zach Kepple talks with his team during a timeout during the Gremlins’ home win over rival Moniteau)
The Warriors charged back, closing the gap to seven late in the fourth quarter, but Karns City endured, hung on and survived at home for a 70-60 win on a wild Tuesday night.
“I told the guys, ‘Don’t expect this to be an easy second half,’” said Karns City coach Zach Kepple. “Moniteau is a good basketball team and we knew that coming in. They just weren’t hitting their shots in the first half and I said they were gonna start hitting them. That’s exactly what happened.”
Moniteau started the game hot, too, leading 5-0 and stonewalling Karns City on the defensive end for several possessions.
But the Warriors couldn’t capitalize on that on offense and failed to extend that momentum.
Instead, the Gremlins seized it, going on a 13-0 run and outscoring Moniteau 20-5 to take a 20-10 lead early in the second quarter. By the half, the advantage had swelled to 38-20.
All without a single point from Cramer, who picked up two fouls and spent much of the second quarter on the bench.
“I told him, ‘Hey, if I don’t need you, I’m not going back to you this quarter,’” Kepple said. “And we didn’t and we continued to go on a run. I talked to him at the half and said, ‘Hey, be the spark in the second half.’”
Cramer certainly was in what was a frenetic half for both teams.
Cramer, who didn’t play at all last season because of a knee injury, scored 11 during a three-minute stretch of the third, including 3-of-3 on very difficult 3-pointers. The final one, a twisting shot with a hand in his face, gave Karns City the 58-31 edge with 3:15 on the clock.
“Those shots were impressive,” Kepple said of Cramer’s difficult attempts. “He’s capable of that. He was feeling it and I’m gonna give him the green light all day because he’s a good shooter. He was a huge spark for us.”
With a 27-point lead, thethe game looked more likely to be a mercy-rule affair than a nail biter.
Karns City was a scorching 9-of-11 from the floor in the third quarter; Moniteau was 7-of-10.
The Warriors’ hot shooting spilled over into the fourth.
The lead shrunk to 17. Then 12. Then nine. Eventually it was down to seven at 67-60 with a little more than a minute on the clock.
Several players had a hand in the rally. Chason Delarosa-Rugg scored seven of his team-high 21 points during the spurt and 14 points in the second half. Ayden Jackson also added six of his 12 in the fourth to spur the surge.
Ultimately, though, Moniteau couldn’t make up that huge deficit.
“It really was a double-edged sword because in our conversations we had we knew we had to come out fast against these guys,” said Moniteau coach Mike Jewart. “We had to take them out of their game and we’ve been preaching rebounding and defense all year and after the first two and a half minutes of the game, we didn’t do it.”
Kepple was also preaching defense and rebounding heading into this matchup and he said his team performed better on the boards than in past games.
The Gremlins had four players score in double figures with Taite Beighley leading the way with 15. He was 5-of-6 from the free thrown line down the stretch to help salt away the victory.
Shane Peters added 14 and Cramer and Jacob Callihan each added 13.
Hobie Bartoe also pitched in nine for Karns City.
Jackson and David Dessicino each scored 12 for Moniteau.
“Are we disappointed? I hope we are because I don’t think that the team we have showed up,” Jewart said. “Karns City’s a good squad. They came out and did what they do and they took it to us. We have to get to that point.”
The silver lining for Moniteau is this matchup didn’t count in the Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference standings.
The game in three weeks will.
“We’ll see how that one turns out,” Jewart said.
For Karns City, holding off Moniteau was good for its collective psyche after losing to Redbank Valley last week on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer in overtime.
“It’s good because this year the league is super tough,” Kepple said. “Redbank is good. Clarion is good. Clarion-Limestone is good and Moniteau us good. Everybody’s good this year, so to play these tight games early in the year, when we go down the stretch, we’ll be prepared for those situations.”
