CHERRY TWP — The losses were as ugly as they were lopsided.

And they had Moniteau boys basketball coach Mike Jewart questioning everything.

“Going into this game I was really concerned with where we were at,” Jewart said.

A 40-point loss will do that. So will a 45-point setback.

There were enough good things, even in a 59-50 loss to Keystone at home Friday night, to allay a lot of those fears.

“Tonight they competed,” Jewart said.

Moniteau jumped out to a 12-4 lead, even without junior point guard Kyle Pry again.

Pry is rehabbing a sprained ankle that has sidelined him for the last two weeks.

“My worst fear coming in was the very thing that happened — we'd get down and they'd have the momentum,” said Keystone coach Greg Heath. “I have to give these Moniteau kids credit. They played so hard tonight. They really got after it tonight and I give them a ton of credit.”

Heath gave his kids a lot of credit, too, for not hitting the panic button.

The Panthers regrouped and went on a 25-4 run after that initial deficit.

Logan Sell had a lot to do with that.

After failing to score a point in the first quarter, the Keystone senior erupted for 14 in the second on 6-of-6 shooting.

“He caught fire. It was a good thing,” Heath said. “You need someone to take control of things and he was the man of the hour.”

Keystone (10-3) spent much of the remainder of the game nursing a double-digit lead.

Moniteau (4-9) got as close as 57-50 with a minute remaining, but could not close the gap any further.

“I'm happy. We saw some progress from our younger guys,” Jewart said.

Tanner Williams led Moniteau with 15 points.

The Warriors have had to shuffle the lineup extensively this season because of injuries.

Jewart said Pry may return late next week, but Chason Delarosa-Rugg, who scored eight points against Keystone, was banged up again Friday night.

“This is the most injuries we've had here in a long time,” Jewart said. “Whenever we get one guy back, we lose two more.”

To complicate matters, Jewart hasn't been able to test out his adjustments in practice because, well, there just haven't been very many opportunities to practice between weather cancellations and games.

“It's been a struggle,” Jewart said. “We've only had two practices in the last two weeks.”

It doesn't get any easier for Moniteau with games Saturday (Brookville) and Monday (DuBois).

“We're doing it all banged up,” Jewart said. “But I'll sleep better tonight. I haven't been sleeping very much the last two weeks.”

KEYSTONE 59

Logan Sell 9-14 0-2 21, Bret Wingard 4-6 4-5 10, Gavin Hogue 2-4 2-3 6, Colin Say 5-9 0-0 10, Brandon Pierce 2-7 0-0 6, Cameron Easton 0-1 0-0 0, Zander McHenry 1-6 2-2 4, Keenan Heeter 0-2 0-0 0. Totals: 23-49 8-12 59.

MONITEAU 50

Tanner Williams 5-8 3-4 15, Mason Mershimer 2-6 0-0 4, Chason Delarosa-Rugg 2-8 2-2 8, Ryan Jewart 2-6 0-0 6, Brady Thompson 3-7 1-1 7, Chance Diaz 2-7 2-2 7, Nathan Kelly 1-3 0-0 3, Caden Roxberry 0-0 0-0 0 Aydan Jackson 0-0 0-1 0. Totals: 17-45 8-10 50.

Keystone 11 22 16 10 — 59

Moniteau14 9 14 13 — 50

3-point goals: Keystone 5 (Sell 3, Pierce 2); Moniteau 8 (Williams 2, Delarosa-Rugg 2, Jewart 2, Diaz, Kelly)

Saturday: Brookville at Moniteau