SR's inside game clips Moniteau, 80-41
SLIPPERY ROCK — No need for jump shots. Slippery Rock took the direct approach.
The Rockets drove directly to the basket with regularity Saturday night — 22 of their 31 field goals coming on lay-ups — in throttling Moniteau, 80-41, in boys basketball action at the Rock Box.
Slippery Rock (11-7) secured the victory on the heels of an emotional triumph over Hickory the night before.
"Iwas afraid we'd come out flat tonight,"Rockets coach Sean Strickland said. "Our kids sank so much energy into that Hickory game.
"Instead, the guys came out focused and ready to play from the opening tip. I credit our seniors for that."
Slippery Rock ran away from Moniteau (6-11) early, building a 13-3 lead in the first four minutes and a 17-point lead by halftime.
Senior forwards Brian Kelly and Matt Shearer — standing 6-foot-5 and 6-3, respectively — combined to sink 16 of 18 shots from the floor. Kelly scored 21 points and Shearer added 17. Both average 12 points per game.
"We've guarded big people inside before,"Moniteau coach Randy Armagost said. "I don't know why we had so much trouble tonight.
"It just wasn't there for us. Maybe it's because it was our fourth game this week ... We were never in this game."
No Moniteau player scored more than seven points. The Warriors' two leading scorers, Tyler Armagost and Josh Loos, combined to sink only five of 24 shots from the floor.
Loos picked up three fouls in the first quarter. By early in the third period, Loos and Aaron Randall had four fouls while point guard Zach McCormick had three.
"Loos getting in foul trouble early really hurt them,"Strickland said. "It took them out of their game plan, I'm sure."
The fouls hurt Moniteau defensively as well."When you get hit with early fouls, you become tentative on defense,"Armagost said. "Playing tentative Armagost said. "Playing tentative against a team with an inside game like Slippery Rock's isn't a good combination."The Rockets sank 31 of 45 shots from the floor overall and hit 17 of 22 free throws."The free throw numbers excite me more,"Strickland said. "That's where we have to do well if we expect to win games in our region."Zack Ejzak contributed 14 points and eight rebounds for the Rockets while Shearer had seven boards. Slippery Rock had a 45-27 lead before Ejzak scored his first field goal.Derrick Orloski scored 11 points for the hosts. Twelve players dented the scorebook for Slippery Rock.Slippery Rock enjoyed a 36-28 edge on the boards and forced 18 turnovers. Loos had seven rebounds for Moniteau."We played well tonight, but we've played better,"Strickland said. "We beat Oil City by 27 on the road and that's the widest margin of victory in our region this year."We led Franklin by 18 after two quarters and they're the No. 10 team in the state. I know how we're capable of playing."And it was Moniteau that came out flat, ending a three-game winning streak."Big time,"Armagost said. "For whatever reason, we weren't ready to play tonight."<B>MONITEAU41Tyler Armagost 3-14 0-0 7, Josh Loos 2-10 3-4 7, Aaron Randall 1-5 2-2 4, James Shope 0-3 0-0 0, Zach McCormick 3-9 0-0 7, Justin Lackey 2-3 0-0 4, Clayton Casper 1-3 0-0 2, Zach Sloan 2-5 0-0 4, Josh Madru 2-3 0-1 4, Tony Campbell 0-3 2-2 2, Brandon Bonzo 0-0 0-0 0. </B>Totals: 16-58 7-9 41<B>SLIPPERYROCK80Ethan Geisler 0-4 1-2 1, Derrick Orloski 4-7 3-5 11, Matt Shearer 7-8 3-4 17, Brian Kelly 9-10 2-2 21, Zack Ejzak 4-6 6-6 14, Brian Geisler 0-2 2-2 2, Nick Cress 2-3 0-2 4, Brant Sloan 1-1 0-0 2, Ryan Gordon 1-1 0-0 2, Alec McDeavitt 1-1 0-0 2, Justin Bennett 0-0 0-0 0, Andrew Waryanka 1-1 0-0 2, Steve Drake 1-1 0-0 2.</B> Totals: 31-45 17-22 80<B>Moniteau 10 13 8 10—41Slippery Rock 23 17 19 21—803-point goals:</B> Armagost, McCormick; Kelly<B>JV:</B> Moniteau, 50-38 (M:Tony Campbell 14, Zach Sloan 11, Brandon Bonzo 11; SR:Alec McDeavitt 11<B>Tuesday:</B> Moniteau at Rocky Grove, Slippery Rock at Meadville
