Thursday, January 31, 2008

Incredibly encouraging, part II

Covered Tuesday night's Monessen at Washington Section 5-AA boys basketball clash and expected the Greyhounds to win a close one.

The Greyhounds, with Tim Tyree, Terrance Stepoli and Delmar Pritchett, boast the section's best talent and they had won 17 of 18. Washington, meanwhile, had struggled in recent games and lost at Burgettstown, a fine team but also a squad without its starting point guard.

Something clicked with Wash High starting in the second quarter. Tom Kelly and Nick Bryant were relentless, and teammates followed suit. Troy Wilson and Mark Wise attacked the basket with determination and toughness. Washington rebounded and played tough perimeter defense.

And the Prexies won the game by 15 points in front of the most supportive crowd I've seen at Wash High since Dan Davis played at Fort Cherry and those two teams battled for section supremacy.

The best thing about Washington's victory was their offensive aggression. If the Prexies continue to maintain their edge, they will be a very difficult matchup for any team in the postseason.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I saw Wash High play at Burgettstown last week. They are not very impressive.

They have no threats from the outside. For that night, they surely didn't.

Any team that packs it in down low and forces them to rely on their outside shooting should have success.

Mapod said...

I seen the Wash-Monessen game. The fans from both team was great. Wash High size was too much to Monessen to over come and of course the home being so narrow took away from Monessen quickness. Monessen shot way to many 3's and got our hustle
for the loose balls. With such a playoff atmosphere is was a great game to watch. The only thing was the official should have let them played. Way too many tick-tac fouls being called both ways.

Anonymous said...

Yea it hard to win when your leading scorer plays 12 minutes of the game. Always remember there are teams that lose and don't have the potential to win and teams that lose and do have the potential. Wash High has potential and if they play their game, they could be an upper echelon team. Burg, keep playing the sisters of the poor every year!

Anonymous said...

Wash High has beaten 3 teams with a winning record this season. Those teams are Burgettstown, Chartiers-Houston, and Monessen.

Burgettstown has beaten 3 teams with a winning record this season. Those teams are Wash High, Chartiers-Houston, and Lincoln Park.

Sisters of the Poor? Huh? I am unsure of the basis of your comment in your above post.

mike_kovak said...

It was a lot of fun to cover the Monessen at Washington game, a much more enjoyable event that the Villanova at Pitt game a day later.

I agree with many of the comments made here.

Monessen shot way too many three's and tried to make the game a one-on-one contest. Washington wins 95 percent of the time under such circumstances.

Washington does have weaknesses, which have been addressed on this site. The Prexies do not shoot well from the perimeter.

And, yes, the officials were far too involved. It can be tough watching a game with 68 free throws.

One point I don't agree with is scheduling. Washington does play a tougher non-section schedule than Burgettstown but it is greatly improved this year.

Mapod said...

I think we have a Sport Illustrator cover jinks issue here. First you write about Monessen Boys how good they are and what happens they lose and lose to Wash High, than how good Washington Play agaist Monessen and the almost get beat Charleroi, and now Cannon Mac, you finally believe in them and what happens the lose to Peters. Not sure but might be a jinks with you columns.

Anonymous said...

Maybe y'all should learn how to speak before becoming defensive. On any given day any team can and will be beat.