CHERRY TWP — A mob of Moniteau basketball fans surrounded Matt Schandelmeier at mid-court, shook his strong hand and patted him on his broad shoulders.

In another recess of the Warriors' gym, Tyler Grossman held court, talking to fans and relishing what his team had accomplished for the first time since his father, John, was a senior at the school 30 years ago: a conference championship.

With a 72-54 win over Cranberry Friday night, Moniteau secured the Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference title. And Schandelmeier, Grossman and Zach Thompson were at the forefront of the historic victory.

"It's nice," said Moniteau coach Randy Armagost. "It's been 30 years and I've been around for six. This was my goal when I took over. My goal was to get the kids to be competitive each year and have a chance to win this thing."

Last year, Moniteau never had a chance.

The Warriors started 0-10, were injured and reeling. They were able to make their season respectable by winning 10 of their final 14 games, but had to sit home for the playoffs.

During off-season, they used that 0-10 start as a rallying cry, knowing they were better than their record a season ago.

"We talked about last year the last game of the season," Armagost said. "We talked about it all summer long. We talked about it before the game tonight. It's been a chip on our shoulders. After tonight we said, '0-10 no more.'"

This season, The Warriors nearly led wire to wire, finishing 21-3 and 12-1 in the KSAC.

A big reason for it has been Grossman.

On Friday night, he scored 21 points, handed out 13 assists and came one rebound shy of a triple-double.

His passes in the second half set up Thompson for 16 of his 19 points and Schandelmeier cleaned up what ever mess was left, scoring 13 points and adding 14 rebounds.

Schandelmeier's nickname is "Puppy," but he plays nothing like it on the boards.

"He works his tail off," Grossman said, with no pun intended.

Schandelmeier, who was a fullback and defensive end on the football team and is headed to California (Pa.) University to play football next fall, came to the team as a freshman with very little basketball skill.

But he always had tenacity.

"It's all heart," he said. "Rebounding is all heart. If I miss a shot, I'm going back up to get it."

That has been the philosophy of the Warriors this season.

Moniteau averages 50 rebounds per game and recorded that many again versus the Berries.

Thompson also had 12 rebounds for the Warriors.

"It's nice having those big guys underneath," Grossman said. "If I take a bad shot, I know those guys are going to be there to get the rebound."

After an eight-day layoff, Moniteau started slowly against Cranberry, falling behind 12-9 after the first period. But the Warriors went on a prodigious run to close out the half with a 12-point lead.

The advantage swelled to 23 points midway through the second quarter before the Berries made a last-ditch push, cutting the lead to as few as seven in the fourth quarter.

Moniteau, though, showed the resiliency that has made it a champion.

"This is a team," Armagost said. "Every night, someone else steps up. Every night we can have a different leading scorer. Grossman, Schandelmeier, Thompson, (Matt) Buczkowski."

The championship came as no surprise to Schandelmeier.

"I knew with eight seniors coming back we were going to be good," he said. "We just needed to go out and prove it."

Now Moniteau must wait another 10 days to play again.

The Warriors will scrimmage against Union and A-C Valley to stay sharp. They also realize a KSAC title means nothing without a strong showing in the district playoffs.

"We can enjoy this over the weekend, but we have to come back Monday and get back to work," Grossman said. "We just have to keep the intensity up in practice and push ourselves."

CRANBERRY 53Hank Heeter 8-18 0-2 20, Gavin Buckholtz 3-6 1-2 7, Bobby Ziegler 1-13 0-0 2, Chase Mitchell 1-7 0-0 2, Brad Rembold 4-11 3-4 11, Shane O'Neil 2-6 0-2 4, Joe Moran 2-2 0-0 4, Nick Persing 0-2 1-2 1, Kelly O'Neil 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 22-66 5-12 53

MONITEAU 72Tyler Grossman 9-22 0-0 21, Zach Thompson 9-17 1-4 19, Matt Schandelmeier 5-9 3-3 13, Garth Kohlmeyer 0-1 0-0 0, Barry Jones 4-7 5-8 13, Clay Campbell 0-0 0-2 0, Matt Buczkowski 2-4 0-4 4, Adam Cousins 1-1 0-0 2, Tyler Armagost 0-2 0-0 0. Totals: 30-63 9-21 72

3-point goals: Heeter 4, Grossman 3

JV: Moniteau 52-43

TBA: District 9 playoffs