Second of Hinton's two attempts falls
By JOHN BASSETTI
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
LOWELLVILLE -- A player doesn't have to be the high scorer to have the highlight of the game.
That was the case Friday night when junior Bradley Hinton made the second of two free throw attempts with no time left on the clock to give McDonald a 76-75 win over Lowellville.
Hinton's pressure-packed situation provided a thrilling finish to the Inter-County League game that seemed to be controlled by Lowellville until late in the third quarter.
"I thought he'd make his first one because he had good rhythm," McDonald coach Jeff Rasile said of his 6-3 player who stepped to the line with the score tied, 75-75. "But he just came up short.
Encouragement
"So we just kind of kept the kids away from him and told him he was going to make the free throw and move on. He walked out and showed a lot of guts and made that free throw."
Hinton's first shot was short, but he squatted and had a good follow-through on his game-winning free throw. Then Hinton turned around with his release arm still in the air as the visiting team's players and fans rejoiced.
"I felt I let my team down," Hinton said of his first miss. "Then coach told me that he knew I'd get the second, so that gave me confidence."
Hinton, a first-year player at McDonald since moving there from the West Side, was fouled battling for a rebound and landed on the court.
"I fell on my elbow," Hinton said of his position after retrieving his own rebound that followed a missed goal attempt by Steven Hughes.
Hinton's 15 points were behind McDonald leaders Hughes (23) and Andy Timko (22).
Rocky Nolfi was Lowellville's high scorer with 21 points.
Turning point
"Both teams didn't always play smart, but both teams played hard," Rasile said. "Obviously, the turning point for us was the end of the third quarter after they had us down 42-30 [early in the same period]. We just weren't moving.
"They were beating us to every loose ball and they were beating us to every rebound. Then we fought back and caused them some problems with some pressure and they threw the ball away."
The Blue Devils (12-7, 9-5) took the lead, 54-53, when Timko made two technical foul shots.
Corey Vukovic followed with a basket and Timko finished the third quarter with a goal after stealing Lowellville's in-bounds attempt.
After Nolfi's midcourt steal and layup gave the Rockets (8-11, 6-8) a 74-73 lead, Hinton missed two free throws with 20.1 seconds remaining.
But Timko flattened Ed Barone who got control of a rebound and Dave Minnie went to the line for Lowellville with 19.1 seconds left.
Minnie made the second of two, but then Vukovic's two free throws tied the game with 18.3 seconds to go.
Critical turnover
When Lowellville took possession, the Rockets threw it away at 7.8 seconds and McDonald was awarded the ball at halfcourt and put in position to take the final shot.
"They played very physical and it seems we got all the fouls and we struggled with that," said Lowellville coach Mike Mangine, who had a technical assessed against him.
Mangine said that Minnie stepped to the line after sitting on the bench following his participation in the JV game.
"He's probably one of our best foul shooters and the quarterback on the football team, but he missed one and made the other. But it's tough after sitting there for the last hour and a half."
Jeremy Gruber played a good sixth-man role for Lowellville, getting rebounds and making his presence felt defensively.
John Wilaj had 14 points, Barone and Mario Nero tacked on 12 points apiece and Jim Sudon added 11.
McDonald beat Lowellville earlier, 64-49.
"We were able to put more pressure on their guards," Rasile said of the first meeting. "We didn't seem to have that extra jump in our step at the beginning of the game tonight and it showed. But give Lowellville credit, they got after it."
bassetti@vindy.com