Southington will face McDonald for crown

The Wildcats beat Mineral Ridge, while the Blue Devils defeated Lordstown.
By GREG GULAS
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
LORDSTOWN -- David Motz had a game-high 21 points and 15 rebounds Friday to lead the Southington High boys basketball team over Mineral Ridge 80-63 in opening-round action of the Lordstown Holiday Tournament.
In the nightcap, McDonald defeated the host Red Devils, 64-45.
Today at the Lordstown gymnasium, Lordstown will meet Mineral Ridge in the consolation game at 6 p.m., with Southington set to meet McDonald in the championship game at 7:30.
Southington-Mineral Ridge
"Despite the final score, they played us tough through two-and-a-half quarters," Southington coach Mike Karr said.
"The biggest thing was that we weren't taking good shots. When we got better looks, we were able to push the lead back to double digits," he added.
Motz almost didn't get the chance to register a double-double. An elbow early in the second period put a gash in his forehead, but he returned to action later in the quarter with a bandaged forehead to score 14 of his 21 points while hauling in 10 of his game-high 15 caroms.
"David Motz has been starting since he was a freshman and there is a big difference in our play when he is not in the game for us," Karr said.
'Cats open early lead
Thad James and Brandon Ayres scored seven points in the opening period as the Wildcats opened a 26-13 lead.
The Wildcats canned five of their game-high eight 3-point goals in the first half. Ayres added six points and Motz four in the second stanza as the Wildcats built a 41-30 halftime advantage.
"We're not very big so we have to rely on shooting the ball well each night," Karr said. "Brandon [Ayres] is an excellent shooter and someone who is kind of the unknown in the area."
The Rams' Vance Keirsey scored eight of his team-high 12 points in the third period as Mineral Ridge outscored the Wildcats 19-17 in the process to cut the Southington lead to 58-49.
Motz then added seven points and six rebounds in the final frame as the Wildcats (3-1) secured the victory.
McDonald-Lordstown
The Blue Devils (2-2) got 20 points from James Beedle and 19 points from Mark Macali en route to victory.
"We're still struggling defensively, but we'll get there," McDonald coach Jeff Rasile said. "We only returned two starters from a season ago, and three of our five starters this year were on the junior varsity squad last season.
"We're still learning as a group, but can have a fine season if we can grow throughout the year."
Macali scored six points each in the opening two periods as the Blue Devils took a 33-20 halftime lead.
Beedle's seven points in the third quarter pushed the Blue Devil lead to 50-34 with just eight minutes remaining.
Tom Andriko had five of his team-high 14 points in the final frame for Lordstown (0-6), but it was too little, too late.
McDonald held a 38-26 rebounding advantage, with Nick Testa hauling down a game-high 13 for the Blue Devils.