Onondaga, N.Y. - Friday night’s 53-41 victory in the Class A sectional semifinals was especially sweet for Bishop Grimes forward David Mo, as a second-quarter 3-pointer put the senior in the 1,000-point club.
The historic bucket came off of a feed from fellow senior David Cifonelli with approximately three minutes left in the frame. Mo entered the night needing just four points to reach the milestone, and finished with a team-high 17.
"I kind of knew that I was four points away and I wasn’t really worrying about it because I knew it was going to come down,” the fourth-year varsity player said. "Mostly I was just focusing on us getting the 'W' and just playing hard for my teammates.”
Mo has averaged double-figures in scoring over the past three seasons, including a career-high 16.9 points per game last year and 14.5 this winter. On top of his 17 points Friday, Mo had four rebounds, a pair of assists, and one steal in 26 minutes.
“He’s been a leader the last two years and he had a chance to play on two great teams as a young player and kind of be the ‘other guy’ and he found this year, when it’s you’re senior year, everybody’s kind of focused on you. He kept persevering, he kept doing his job, and he’s going to break out,” Cobras coach Bob McKenney said. "I think his best basketball this year is still in front of him, so we’re excited to have another chance to get out there and let him really shake the cobwebs off and continue to play great basketball for us.”
While Mo was glad to secure the personal milestone, he knows that there are more important goals at hand. Grimes will be looking to win their first sectional championship since the 2015-2016 campaign when they play Jamesville-DeWitt at 5:30 p.m. Sunday in the Carrier Dome. The Cobras and Red Rams have hooked up during the Class A sectional semifinals each of the past two years, splitting the pair of semifinal meetings.
“After last year’s (championship loss to Utica Notre Dame) we took it serious and even started working out as a team at our school and we knew we had to get the job done and work hard every day,” Mo said. "We knew were going to be in the same situation.”
The senior leader connected on five of six free throws Friday, which McKenney noted was a great sign.
“He’s a great kid first and foremost, and he’s worked extremely hard at the game. If he had kind of a weakness going into this year, he had trouble getting to the rim a little bit. He got a lot stronger in the off-season. He showed that today. He got some mid-range jump shots,” the coach said. "It was good to have him go the basket a couple of times, get some short shots, and he got to the foul line a couple of times.”