Mar 6, 2015 4 min read

CANONSBURG – For a 12-minute stretch during the first half of the school’s first PIAA Class A playoff game in 31 years, the Venango Catholic boys basketball team must have thought the court was too small, that Monessen had eight players on the floor and there wasn’t enough oxygen in the gymnasium.

Yes, Monessen’s full-court press can be suffocating.

It also can pick up the pace of a basketball game to an uncomfortable speed for the opponent, and the result typically can be overwhelming for the Greyhounds’ foes.

That was the case Friday night as Monessen’s defensive pressure proved too much for Venango Catholic as the WPIAL champion Greyhounds cruised to a 76-41 victory in a first-round game at Canon-McMillan High School.

The win sends Monessen (21-6) into the second round Tuesday against Portage, the runner-up from District 6. Portage edged McConnellsburg, 50-48.

Monessen made quick work of Venango Catholic (15-10), the fourth-place team from District 9. Not even the Vikings’ 6-11 center Devin Zagar could help much against the Monessen press.

Venango Catholic committed 38 turnovers, including an amazing 25 in the first half.

“You can’t simulate Monessen’s press in practice,” Venango Catholic coach Ed McIntyre said. “They do a great job of making you play at their speed. We only have 12 players, and two of them were out all week, so we couldn’t put seven or eight players on defense in practice to simulate their press. We could use five because that’s all we had.”

Venango Catholic did have a 5-3 lead, then Monessen’s press took over. The Greyhounds ended the first quarter on a 17-2 run for a 20-7 lead. The turnovers continued to come at a rapid pace in the second quarter, when Monessen stretched its lead to 43-18 late in the first half.

The Vikings tried everything to beat the Greyhounds’ press. They tried to dribble through traps, tried long cross-court passes and tried to lob the ball to Zagar. Nothing worked for very long.

Though Monessen was able to drive the ball at Zagar for some easy baskets, the Greyhounds did struggle offensively for stretches. They made only 3 of 15 three-pointers in the first half and allowed Venago Catholic to close the half on a 5-0 run.

Those were two reasons Monessen coach Joe Salvino wasn’t happy after the game. He let his team know as much with a long and loud postgame tirade in the locker room.

“I’m not real happy,” Salvino said. “We had a long layoff after winning a WPIAL championship and it’s tough to come back. But we rushed some shots and didn’t close out the half. We have to play much better.”

Monessen stretched its lead to 67-32 after three quarters and led by as many as 39 points in the fourth quarter.

Lavelle Rush, who drew two early fouls, led Monessen with 21 points, all coming after the first quarter. Noah Yartin scored 15 points, and Jaden Altomore and Justice Rice each had 13. Altomore grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds.

Yartin, who was assigned to play man-to-man defense against the towering Zagar, outscored his taller opponent. Zagar scored 13 points and grabbed nine rebounds. He did block 11 shots and altered several others, but Monessen was often able to grab rebounds off the rejections and turn them into second-chance points.

Scott Toy led Venango Catholic with 14 points.

“We like to say that you’re only as good as your last game,” Salvino said. “In this one, we weren’t smart with the basketball. And if the problem is players worrying about points, then they’re not going to play for me. I hope that’s not the case. … We have an opportunity to make a statement in this tournament, and I want to make that statement. To do that, we have to play much better than we did in this game.”