CHERRY TWP — Moniteau's first victory of the season was convincing and complete.

A tenacious team effort paved the way to a 16-0 run in the first half and the Warriors coasted to a 63-35 boys basketball win over Venango Catholic on Friday night at Moniteau High School.

“We want our defense to smother people,” said Moniteau coach Randy Armagost.

His Warriors happily obliged en route to the lopsided triumph.

Moniteau (1-3) held the Vikings (0-4) to 22.2 percent shooting — 8-for-36 from the floor — and forced 33 turnovers.

“I thought Moniteau played very hard. They were aggressive right from the start,” said Venango Catholic coach Ed McIntyre. “I thought they came ready to play and we were a little too passive and a little too careless.”

Drew Yeckel and Denny Pry never allowed Venango's top offensive threat — 6-foot-9 center Devin Zagar — to find a rhythm by harassing him underneath the hoop with constant pressure. Zagar finished with just five points, while attempting only three shots from the field.

“We were going to front him with backside help, smother him and make somebody else try to beat us,” said Armagost. “I gave (Yeckel and Pry) the challenge of playing that big guy. They gave up 7 or 8 inches and they shut him down. ... We frustrated the heck out of him.”

While Venango's offense sputtered, Moniteau took advantage of fast-break opportunities and implemented a well-balanced attack. Cody Skiver tallied a team-high nine points, while five Warriors finished with eight points and two others scored six. Colton Cumberland distributed a game-high four assists.

“I would rather have eight guys scoring eight or nine points than have one guy scoring 20 and another guy 15,” said Armagost. “We pass the ball really well; everybody looks for everybody.”

Scott Toy paced Venango Catholic with 17 points, 13 rebounds, two steals and three blocked shots.

However, no other Viking recorded more than five points and the Warriors came away with 19 steals. Andrew Armagost and Cumberland were the biggest culprits with five and four steals, respectively.

Moniteau was also active on the glass, outrebounding the Vikings by a 48-36 margin overall with a 21-6 advantage on the offensive boards. Yeckel led the charge with a team-high 12 rebounds. Armagost grabbed nine.

“I'm pleased with how well we boxed out. One of the reasons we lost the A-C Valley game (in overtime on Tuesday) was our boxing out,” said Coach Armagost. “I thought we did a lot better job tonight.”

The game was tied late in the first quarter, but the Warriors held the Vikings without a point until the 2:55 mark of the second frame and built a 22-6 cushion in the process.

Moniteau took a 30-18 lead into halftime and stretched the advantage to 47-25 by the start of the fourth quarter.

“Overall we're a young group,” said McIntyre. “We need to keep pushing each other along to get better. We need to learn from our mistakes.”

The Warriors were happy to capitalize on the miscues with an up-tempo attack and relentless defense.

“The kids love to play defense, they love to fast break,” said Armagost. “That's high school basketball, whoever plays defense is going to win nine out of 10 times.”

VENANGO CATHOLIC 35

Jonah Jones 2-5 1-2 5, Scott Toy 3-11 10-14 17, Devin Zagar 1-3 3-9 5, Jacob Hale 1-9 0-0 2, Brady Kingston 1-5 2-2 4, Eric Hidinger 0-1 0-0 0, Luke Plumer 0-1 0-0 0, Jordan Karg 0-0 2-2 2, Jacob Hargenrader 0-1 0-0 0, Nathan Dudzic 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 8-36 18-29 35.

MONITEAU 63

Cody Skiver 3-16 2-2 9, Dustin Geagan 3-4 0-0 6, Andrew Armagost 3-18 2-6 8, Drew Yeckel 3-12 2-2 8, Denny Pry 4-11 0-0 8, Zach Timblin 4-8 0-0 8, James Bair 3-8 0-0 6, Colton Cumberland 3-4 2-3 8, Stephen Hagg 1-1 0-1 2, Aaron Marterella 0-0 0-0 0, Jake Fullerton 0-1 0-0 0, Zack Jewart 0-1 0-0 0, Mark Kimmel 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 27-85 8-14 63.

Venango Catholic 6 12 7 10—35

Moniteau10 20 17 16—63

3-point goals: Venango Catholic 1-10 (Toy 1-4, Hale 0-2, Kingston 0-2, Jones 0-1, Hidinger 0-1). Moniteau 1-17 (Skiver 1-9, Bair 0-4, Armagost 0-3, Timblin 0-1).

JV: Venango Catholic 47, Moniteau 43. VC: Eric Hidinger 14. M: Mark Kimmel 15.

Friday: Moniteau at Redbank Valley