By Shawn Fox
New Castle News

CANONSBURG —Union coach Mark Stanley called Monessen the perfect storm.

His Scotties found themselves in the eye of that storm Friday night.

The top-seeded Greyhounds opened up a 28-16 lead after one quarter and never looked back as they blew away the eighth-seeded Scotties, 112-62, in the quarterfinals of the WPIAL Class A boys basketball playoffs at Canon-McMillan High School.

“I’m proud of our effort,” Stanley said. “Early on, I thought we showed something. They’re a perfect storm. They’re quick, they can shoot it, they’re well coached. They’ve got it all. They just keep coming at you. It’s not like they haven’t done that to anybody else this year. My message to the kids was we’re not going to play to the scoreboard, and I thought we did that.”

Union (12-11) found out Monessen was as good as advertised, as the Greyhounds featured a fast-paced offense and an in-your-face defense throughout the entire game. The Greyhounds (21-3) forced 35 turnovers, turning most of those into layups on the other end.

“I liked the way we played defense,” Monessen coach Joe Salvino said. “Our individual quickness was a big key for us. We try to make that defense a part of our offense.”

Jaden Altomore led all balanced Monessen attack with 25 points. Dwight Moore and Justice Rice each scored 24 points, and Lavelle Rush chipped in with 20.

Tre’von Charles paced the Scotties with 20 points. Garrison Bell added 13 points and eight rebounds. Constantin Padure finished with 12 points. Devin Wilson grabbed 14 rebounds.

Monessen flexed its muscles right off the opening tip, racing out to an 8-0 lead over the first 1:30 and forcing Union to call a timeout.

The Greyhounds extended their lead to 12-2 before the Scotties got their offense going.

Charles’ 3-pointer from the right corner ignited a mini 9-3 run for Union. The Scotties got another three from Timmy Sumner and a layup by Bell to cut the deficit to 15-12 and force the Greyhounds to call a timeout with 2:38 remaining in the first half.

“We tried a little token press to try to slow them down, but they can slash and then they kick out,” Stanley said. “They share the ball, they’re unselfish, they dictate the pace. If you want to slow it down, you’ve better be able to handle it because they’re just going to keep coming.”

Altomore drained a NBA-range 3-pointer out of the timeout to begin a 13-4 Monessen run that closed the first quarter.

The Greyhounds built their lead to 57-34 at the half and led 89-57 after three quarters.

Monessen reached the century mark with 5:36 remaining in the game on a free throw by Rice. It marked the eighth time this season the Greyhounds scored 100 points in a game. Their season high came Jan. 26 in a 120-29 drubbing of Geibel Catholic. Monessen averages a little more than 93 points per game.

“We were OK, not great,” Salvino said. “There’s always room for improvement. Until you play a perfect game, there’s always got to be something to improve upon.”

Union will face Clairton on Monday at a time and site to be announced in a consolation game. The Scotties must win two games to get the WPIAL’s fifth seed in the upcoming PIAA playoffs. Clairton dropped a 56-38 decision to Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic Friday night at Chartiers Valley.

“People might laugh, but I think if we play as well as we did tonight, we’ll be OK,” Stanley said. “Against 95 percent of the teams you’re going to go against, that effort was pretty good.”

Monessen will meet North Catholic on Tuesday in the semifinals.

(Email: ncsports@ncnewsonline.com).