Reporter Photo/Robert Hayes Howland Senior John Perry takes a shot at the post. He scored a game-high 15 points.
Howland – Being a defensive-minded team, Cardinal Mooney loves to compete. Once the outside shot started falling, the Cardinals found their groove, beating Howland 49-38 on the road Tuesday night.
Five different players hit a 3-pointer for Mooney (2-2), but shutting down the Tigers’ offensive playmakers from beyond the arc was the focus heading into Tuesday night.
Coach Carey Palermo was more than happy with the performance in all aspects of the game.
“We’re hanging our hat on defense – 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’ve got some really talented players, and I think lately they’ve been hitting their head a little too hard.” Palermo said. “They want to shoot well every night, and maybe they don’t let the game get to them, but when we started making the extra passes and sharing the basketball, the hoop started opening up for us.
“We made a point to try to take (Alex Henry) out of the game (vs. Howland), he’s a great player, and our goal was to stop him. He knows how to find his guys, and he’s found (John Berry) a few times.”
After falling behind 7-4 in the first quarter, the Tigers (2-3) went to work, attacking the post with senior John Perry, who helped put together a 9-0 run late in the second frame to push Howland ahead, including a huge slam . Block on Eddie Nieves from Mooney to prevent the Cardinals’ momentum in the lane.
Howland (2-3) led 13-12 at halftime, but it didn’t last long. Nieves opened the third quarter with a 3-pointer, and fellow senior Rocco Turner hit a jumper two minutes later.
Taking it 19-17, senior Ashton O’Brien hit a hat-trick, followed by a three-pointer on the left side of the arc for Turner.
It wasn’t until the 10 o’clock midpoint that Mooney felt his confidence growing. Nieves led the visiting Cardinals with 12 points.
“We actually got a lot of stops on defense. We started getting more stops in the second half, and started getting more shots off of them.” Neves said. “Just being confident and knowing what we’re doing, just keep looking forward and looking forward to the next game.
“(Perry’s) a big guy. He could jump out of the gym, so we had to hit him against the glass and make sure all the other shooters like Henry didn’t get hit, just smashed the glass.”
Fellow senior Jabri Carter scored nine points, including a three-pointer early in the fourth quarter. Howland slowly moved away from the free throw line as Mooney’s fouls mounted, but the Tigers’ efforts were in vain.
Carter saw the Mooney team was playing some groove.
“When we come to a big environment, it’s always tough here, but we played really good defense. We always rely on our good defense, no matter how we shoot the ball.” Carter said. “Keep our energy up, it’s very important that we keep our energy up and keep moving forward no matter what.”
Palermo added, “Shooting is contagious. Once one guy does it, it snowballs. We get our press and we get our press. Guys like to play with the free flow that way.”
O’Brien and Turner scored nine points, along with junior Niko Genova’s eight points that included a pair of threes. Howland paced Perry, who scored 15 points, while senior TJ Douglas, junior Anthony Chieffo and Henry scored six points each.
Tigers coach Dan Beaubon felt fouls increased late in the game, making it more difficult for Holland to overcome the deficit.
“We turned the ball over a few times. When we were able to come back and guard five-on-five, it was 13-12 at halftime, we were good. “In the third quarter, I would say almost all of their open shots came through us turning the ball over, getting caught in turnovers. “And trying to scramble for the match.” Bobon said. “They got hot, made some layups, made some threes. That’s been the biggest part of our job, is giving them an opportunity.”
“It builds on itself. Now you have guys who are afraid to make a mistake, and you can’t really play this game tentatively. You really have to play this game aggressively and in the fourth quarter we didn’t change anything at all from what we were doing against the pressure, the guys just decided to start “Playing more aggressive. We went through it and were able to get some baskets and get into a good rhythm.”
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