COHASSET – Monomoy boys basketball coach Dan Taylor wanted his team to be challenged this winter.

The Sharks purposely beefed up their schedule to play a tougher slate of games, including Sunday evening’s non-league road test at Cohasset.

Although the Sharks at times struggled to get their offense clicking in gear, there was little the team could do to slow down the Skippers at the defensive end of the floor. Cohasset pulled away for a 74-40 victory after lighting it up from the field.

“They’re exactly who we thought they were,” Taylor said. “They’re well coached, they have a lot of seniors and they play fast. So, if you don’t get back in transition, they’re going to find a way to find open shots and they buried them tonight. We hung with them in the first quarter, but we didn’t have an answer for them.”

It became clear from the start that Monomoy (3-4) was in for a battle after Cohasset scored the first eight points of the game. The visiting Sharks overcame their early deficit by manufacturing a 9-0 run that came off 3-pointers on three consecutive trips up the floor.

Cohasset carved out a 22-16 lead by the end of the first quarter that grew to 44-20 by halftime after the team outscored Monomoy 22-4 during the second quarter.

“My first thought is, ‘This is annoying’ because you put your hand up for every shot and they’re still making every shot,” Monomoy senior co-captain Michael Rocco said of Cohasset’s shooting prowess.

Rocco led the team with 14 points, while his senior co-captain Daniel Gould added eight. Senior Chandler Cheron grabbed 10 rebounds and classmate Alec Brown pulled down eight of his own.

It wasn’t the end result Taylor and the Sharks were hoping for, but the matchup and experience served its purpose: It provided the team with a tough test far from the comfort of home.

“We didn’t come to Cohasset for an easy win,” Taylor said. “We came to Cohasset so we could get the experience of traveling far off the Cape. This was a good experience.”

The loss came days after Monomoy earned a 48-43 victory over Barnstable in Harwich. The win over the Red Hawks was gratifying because they are a tough competitive opponent, but it also came one day after the Sharks had their first practice following a week off from action.

“It was just a big way to come back after having a week off,” freshman Finn Hyora said of the Barnstable win. “It was a good way to shake the rust off and was a gutsy win.”

Hyora, a Chatham resident, led Monomoy with 11 points in the win.

“Finn was the best player on the floor in the Barnstable game,” Taylor said. “Michael Desir had a great game and then the two Jacksons, Jackson Rocco and Jackson Morneau, gave us big buckets when we needed them. It was a nice team victory, but Finn did a little bit of everything.”

Taylor acknowledged the team still has a lot of basketball to play with two games most weeks and three on occasion for the remainder of the season.

Hyora noted the key to future success will rely on how much the players bond in the final weeks.

“We just have to work on bonding and getting close as a team and learning what each other is best at and do what we can to help the team,” he said.

Email Brad Joyal at brad@capecodchronicle.com. Twitter: @BradJoyal