Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes Canfield’s Jake Delisio moves past a Cardinal Mooney defender en route to the paint during a victory Monday in Youngstown.

YOUNGSTOWN — For some, Monday evening’s showdown of the “Cardinals” at Cardinal Mooney High School was one to keep an eye on. Both the host Cardinals and visitors from Canfield walked into the gym boasting quality records, but at the end of the day, experience meant a lot on a night with a crowded gym and loud audience.

A more veteran Canfield team hung on during a back-and-forth slugfest with Mooney, earning a 45-39 win, to finish the first half of its schedule 8-1.

It was a far cry from the 83-79 victory over East Liverpool over the weekend, but for Canfield coach Andy Vlajkovich, each contest has a different feel to it.

“I thought we kind of wore (Mooney) down a little bit and kind of settled into a little bit of a rhythm. Their press isn’t always designed to turn you over, it’s more designed to take you out of your flow and rhythm,” Vlajkovich said. “Against East Liverpool, we had a real flow and rhythm, that game was kind of poetry, tonight was more like a rock fight.

“I told our guys, Mooney plays as hard as anybody on our schedule.”

For the vast majority of the time, it was a tight duel, with neither team developing a substantial edge. Canfield (8-1) held an 11-5 lead midway through the first after three pointers by seniors Jake Delisio and Ben Weaver helped space out the floor.

Later on, down 24-20, Mooney (6-3) took its latest lead of the ballgame at the 6:19 mark in the third following makes by Kingston Powell and Nico Genova. What ensued was a 9-0 Canfield run, kick-started with a make by Delisio off of a miss.

Delisio tallied a career-high 15 points during the road win.

“I feel like coming into this, (Mooney) wanted to keep the score low because they know we have a lot of guys that can score, they just wanted to hang with us throughout the game,” Delisio said. “Our drivers definitely got downhill in the first half, which led to a lot of three-pointers. We just got to keep doing that.

“It felt good. I’m usually not a scorer, I’m more of a defensive guy, but any given night any guy can go off.”

With under four minutes to play, Mooney’s Dom Letlow cut the deficit down to 35-31, but Canfield’s Bryce Roberts immediately replied with a three-pointer in front of his team’s bench to extend the lead back to seven. Teams traded baskets until Weaver cut inside and took to the air, bringing down a dunk that recharged his teammates and helped to close the win out.

“We’ve been in this situation many times before. Every year with Mooney, it’s the same type of game, it’s scrappy,” Weaver said. “These games are very important, this is exactly what a playoff atmosphere would be like, just getting used to it. These games really just prepare for those deep playoff games and those deep runs.

“(The dunk) felt great, the whole momentum swings, and it’s huge for the entire team, it’s a great thing for momentum at the end of a game like that.”

Vlajkovich added, “I just thought it was a gutsy win, we weren’t playing great, we weren’t in a rhythm, but we kind of found a way to get tough on the glass to get some timely rebounds and we were tough when we needed to be.”

Landon Shina added eight points and Roberts had six.

Mooney was paced by Dennis Clark and Letlow’s eight points each, with Keith Rhodes and Powell adding six each.

At times, it was the little things that made a swing for coach Carey Palermo.

“For us, it had more to do with the fact they’d get a bucket on a free throw, we’d box out, but it got tipped out and they got two hands on it and finished. We missed a couple of free throws down the stretch,” Palermo said. “They pressured us all night, and it took us out of rhythm, but the times that they did turn us over, it felt like we were just holding the ball trying to set our offense up.

“I thought we did a good job defensively against them for the most part, but they found a way to get (an extra) 8 to 12 points, that’s what good teams do. I think we did a little bit of that tonight ourselves, but not enough. This is game nine for us and game nine for all but one of our players on our roster at the varsity level. We want to win, not happy with the result, but I’m happy with the effort. I thought we took a step forward tonight.”