Serra Catholic has big hopes this season
Tri-State Sports & News Service
Off to its best start in five years, Serra Catholic is shooting for the stars this season.
It will rely heavily on a Moon to get there.
Jimmy Moon is a 6-foot-8 junior forward who is developing into one of the top post players in WPIAL Class 2A. Moon is averaging 16.6 points and 13.1 rebounds per game and produced doubledoubles in seven of Serra’s first eight games. The Eagles brought a 8-1 record (2-0 in Section 1) into Friday’s play.
“He can score from inside and out, which is a big key for him,” Serra coach Justin Walther said of Moon, who has grown 4 inches since last season. “He rebounds the ball well, so he can score on a lot of putbacks. He can hit the 3. He can score in the post. He’s very fundamentally sound.”
Moon’s versatility sets him apart from many other players his size, particularly at the high school level. He can get physical and be a force in the low post, but he also has a good stroke from the perimeter. Moon is shooting close to 50 percent from the field.
Walther made an interesting comparison, saying Moon reminds him of Walther himself when he played. Walther, who is 6 feet 7, was an outstanding player at Central Catholic in the early 1990s and later starred at Pitt-Johnstown.
“He sort of reminds me of me when I played back in the day,” Walther said. “He can score from the inside and outside. He has that dynamic a lot of kids his age don’t have.”
Moon is the tallest player on his team, but not the tallest member of his family. His father, Jim, is 6-11. Jim played at Saint Vincent.
Serra has more than Moon, though. An excellent backcourt includes junior Khalil Smith (15 points per game) and senior Malik Edmundson (14.8). Edmundson, the team’s sixth man, was named MVP of last week’s St. Joseph tournament. Smith made the alltournament team. Moon plays the power forward position, while 6-5 junior Bernard Lawson, an all-conference offensive lineman for the Serra football team, starts at center.
Walther, who is in his second season, has Serra headed in the right direction. A year before he took over, the Eagles went 4-17. Last season, they improved to 8-14. They last finished with a winning record and qualified for the playoffs in 2013.
“We’ve been changing the culture since we haven’t had a winning season since 2013. That’s been the toughest thing for [assistant] coach [Matt] Loftis and I to overcome,” Walther said. “Last year I think the coaches took the losses tougher than the players did.”
Moon said he and his teammates are looking forward to Tuesday’s section game at Jeannette, which is also one of the best teams in Class 2A and beat Serra twice last season.
“It’s definitely a game where we want to compare ourselves to them,” Moon said.
“Right now Jeannette is on top of the section. They beat us pretty good both times last season. We’ll see how we do in that game.”
City League showdown
The first big City League game of the season will take place Friday when two of the area’s biggest surprises, Carrick (10-0) and Westinghouse (6-1), meet at Westinghouse in their league opener at 7 p.m.
Carrick, which went 7-15 last season and hasn’t won a league title since 1994, entered the week one of just four WPIAL and City League teams with unbeaten records. Penn Hills, Moon and Quaker Valley were the others.
Westinghouse (13-10 last season) owns an impressive win against New Castle and its only loss was to Franklin Regional.
The best individual matchup will take place down low between two talented big man — Westinghouse’s 6-11 James Ellis and Carrick’s 6-7 Y’shua Bragg. Ellis is averaging 21.4 points, 12 rebounds and 8 blocked shots, while Bragg is averaging 13.6 points, 8.2 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. Bragg was MVP of last week’s Bishop Canevin tournament.
“They have James Ellis, who is really playing well and who has really matured attitude-wise since last year,” Carrick coach Walt Milinski said. “And our big guy, Y’Shua Bragg, has played really well.”