Hays, Moessner lead Bentworth past West Greene
BENTLEYVILLE – In the fall, Ben Hays and Ryan Moessner had historic moments for Bentworth in different spots.
Hays was the WPIAL rushing champion in football and Moessner led the boys soccer team to its first state championship.
On Thursday the duo combined to get the Bearcats a boys basketball playoff win.
Hays had a game-high 31 points and Moessner scored 15 as Bentworth pulled away in the second half to secure a 61-44 win against West Greene in the WPIAL preliminary round.
While they’ve excelled in other sports, both Hays and Moessner have played basketball together for a long time and secured a win in what will likely be the final home game for both seniors.
“It’s really cool,” Hays said. “We’ve been really close since we were really young. We always knew we could do good things when we were older. Now we’re here and we’re trying to make a run.”
The No. 14 Bearcats (15-6) advanced to play at No. 3 OLSH in the first round Monday. West Greene finished 7-14.
Bentworth defeated West Greene 62-27 in a game on Dec. 29, but the rematch was much closer for a while.
The Bearcats held a 25-21 lead after a tightly contested first half, but Hays took over in the third quarter, scoring a dozen points.
Some of those points came off quick steals and scores. He had a couple that he did on his own and Moessner also had a couple steals and outlets to Hays for easy layups.
The Bearcats won the quarter 14-8 and took a 39-29 lead.
West Greene never got the deficit to within single digits again.
“We felt like we got ranked low in the seedings, but going into halftime in a close game, it made us feel maybe like that’s where we deserved to be, but we didn’t want to think like that,” Hays said. “We had to come out in the third quarter and expand the lead and we did.”
Hays converted a runner and had another steal and score early in the fourth. Moessner followed with another steal and layup which made it 54-36.
The game was tied 13-13 at the end of the first quarter after the teams traded extended runs.
West Greene scored the game’s first 10 points. Will Shipman and Darren Knight had a three pointer apiece and Matthew Wassil made two shots inside.
“I think we were caught up in the hoopla a little bit and that led to the slow start,” Bentworth coach Bob Kennedy said. “Don’t get me wrong, I love having a home game, but by the time you travel on the bus for a road game you have time to come down opposed to all the things going on here, and you knew West Greene was going to come in focused. We beat them the last time and they had nothing to lose.”
Bentworth missed its first eight shots before Ben Hays knocked down a three with 3:40 remaining in the frame.
That sparked the Bearcats, who finished the quarter on a 10-3 run.
Ryan Moessner nailed a three on two consecutive trips and forced a turnover that led to an easy layup by Hays.
Adam Moessner was fouled after stealing an inbounds pass and made two free throws to finish off the quarter.
Bentworth carried the momentum into the second quarter. Levi Urcho converted a shot inside that gave Bentworth its first lead. Then, Hays had a steal and score on two consecutive possessions, which led to a West Greene timeout.
The Pioneers steadied themselves after the flurry and got to within two points on two occasions. Will Shipman stole the ball and made a layup to cut it to 23-21, but Urcho responded with a basket to give the Bearcats a four-point halftime lead.
After securing a playoff win for the second time in as many years, the Bearcats will try to pull the upset at OLSH Monday.
“I think it’s going to be a better game that you’d expect it to be,” Kennedy said. “Olsh Coach (Mike) Rodriguez is an outstanding guy. We were in a section together for years, so we sort of know each other. I’ve seen them play and I think we can give them a game.”
West Greene 13 8 8 15 – 44
Bentworth 13 12 14 22 – 61
West Greene: Matthew Wassil, 14 points; Landen Hill, 12; Will Shipman, 10.
Bentworth: Ben Hays, 31 points; Ryan Moessner, 15.