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Worth the wait: California opens with win at Monessen

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MONESSEN – California High School finally opened its 2020-21 boys basketball season Friday night as it went to Monessen and picked up a key Class 2A Section 4 win, 71-62.

It wasn’t pretty, but California coach Aaron Balla will take it.

“We are fortunate to come to Monessen (and get a win) because they are top competition,” he said. “We talked about (hitting the wall) the last two weeks and didn’t expect to run full court and we had to understand that it would set in early.

“The guys were honest with themselves about it and adapted, which led to smart and cognitive play.”

The fatigue definitely played a part as the Trojans (1-0, 1-0) had 26 turnovers while Monessen (3-2, 4-3) had 18.

“We made some tired mental plays towards the end, but we played great team ball and made some tremendous passes,” Balla said. “Closeouts were substantial and boxing out early were keys.”

Monessen coach Dan Bosnic said his team having issues scoring for long stretches proved costly.

“We know we struggle on offense and we saw that tonight,” he said. “We didn’t finish when we had opportunities, but we recognize that we have to be a lot better on defense to create opportunities on offense. We didn’t do that tonight and it compounds when you struggle.”

Trailing 3-2, the Trojans exploded for a 10-0 run in only 95 seconds to take a 12-3 lead.

Monessen countered with an 8-2 spurt, but a 7-1 California run to close the quarter gave the Trojans a 21-12 lead.

Defense took over in the second quarter as both teams struggled to score until late.

Each team had seven turnovers in the quarter. Kwondre Porter scored eight points in the quarter to pace the Trojans and they led 34-24 at the half.

“We were never able to take advantage of (turnovers) and were never able to get out and get easy baskets,” Bosnic said. “You compound all those things and it was ugly.”

Despite seven more turnovers in the third quarter, the Trojans outscored Monessen 22-14 to take a 56-38 lead into the fourth quarter.

“The last couple of minutes, the effort was there,” Bosnic said. “The truth is, we have to play with urgency from the beginning and make people play faster than they want to and we have to create offense for ourselves.”

Monessen forced nine California turnovers in the fourth quarter and made the final score respectable by outscoring the Trojans, 24-15.

“We have some things to clean up but will keep working,” Balla said. “But it sure does feel good to get going.”

Hunter Assad led the Trojans with 18 points while Porter and Payton Conte each finished with 15.

Monessen’s Chas Mrlack led all scorers with 23 points. Lorenzo Gardner (13) and Kiante Robinson (11) also hit double figures for the Greyhounds.

California is at first-place Frazier next Friday while Monessen plays three straight non-section games before hosting Jefferson-Morgan in a key section contest.

California and Frazier entered the night as the only teams in the section without a loss in league play.

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