A solid first eight minutes set the tone for the Shenango High boys basketball team.

The visiting Wildcats took a 20-10 lead in the first quarter and used the fast launch to take a 56-27 victory over Section 1-AA opponent Mohawk last night.

“That’s the one thing we talked about, getting a quick start,” Shenango coach Bob McQuiston said. “Mohawk is always tough at home. They’ve had a couple of good games in a row against Neshannock and Laurel and we’re coming off of a tough loss (against Riverside). The one thing we wanted to do was to set the tone and the guys did a good job of getting off to a quick start.”
Mohawk kept pace after that, but found itself on the wrong end of a 19-3 third quarter.

Ryan Smith led all scorers with 16 points. James Micco followed with 13 points and Christian O’Hara tallied 11 for Shenango (3-4, 8-5).

Ricky Malutic paced the Warriors (0-6, 1-12) with nine points.

Shenango has a number of players that can shoot the ball, but the presence of Micco in the post has given the Wildcats another offensive threat.

“We want to establish an inside game,” McQuiston said. “We have a guy like James and we need to utilize him a little bit more. Now I think he’s starting to get into a rhythm. He’s working hard to get open and the guys are doing a good job finding him.”