Feb 8, 2022 3 min read

CARMICHAELS – Monessen is back at the top.

The Greyhounds came up short the past two years of claiming the boys basketball program’s 46th section championship but got the job at Carmichaels on Tuesday night.

Lorenzo Gardner scored a game-high 23 points as Monessen defeated the Mikes on their Senior Night, 60-47, to wrap up sole possession for first place in Section 4-AA.

“It was the goal coming into the season,” Greyhounds coach Dan Bosnic said. “Before the season Carmichaels and Jefferson-Morgan were expected to compete for a section championship and we were kind of off to the side. Our kids took that personally.

“We’re just really proud of them and the effort they put in to get into this position.”

The Greyhounds led most of the way but had to fight off a couple runs by Carmichaels.

Monessen (9-0, 15-4) took a 12-7 lead in the first quarter and pushed the margin up to 15 points at 22-7 midway through the second.

Carmichaels (6-2, 12-4) came roaring back with a 16-4 run highlighted by a pair of 3-pointers from Chris Barrish and one by Tyler Richmond to pull within 26-23 late in the quarter. Gardner made a pair of free throws to make it 28-23 at halftime.

Bosnic felt his team got out of sorts in the latter part of the second quarter.

“At halftime we just talked about playing with composure,” Bosnic said. “We talked about handling whatever came their way in the second half.”

The Greyhounds took control again in the third quarter with its defense and rebounding to push the gap up to 13 but a 3-pointer by Barrish at the buzzer got the Mikes within 44-34 heading into the final frame.

Another 3-pointer by Barrish and three points from Mike Stewart highlighted a seven-point run as Carmichaels got within 46-41 with just under four minutes to play.

Monessen pulled away from there, however, to win going away.

Kody Kuhns followed Gardner in the Greyhounds’ scoring column with 16 points.

Barrish led the Mikes with 17 points, including five 3-pointers. Drake Long, Stewart and Richmond added nine points apiece.

“We knew coming in we wanted to speed them up and get the ball out of Barrish’s hands and make those other guys play faster than they wanted to,” Bosnic said. “I thought our kids did that for the most part.”

Mikes coach Ian McCombs was disappointed his team couldn’t keep its section title hopes alive.

“You look at this game and the game we played before against them (a 65-59 Monessne home win) and two of the big things were turnovers and rebounds,” McCombs said. “And, right out of the gate, that was how they got off to a big lead.”

Bosnic lauded his team’s effort on the boards.

“I thought a big part of this game was the rebounding, especially offensive rebounding,” Bosnic said. “That was a big difference in the game.”