Blue Devils advance to final

McDonald will face either Mineral Ridge and Heritage Christian in the title game.
By JOHN KOVACH
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
STRUTHERS -- The Leetonia High boys basketball team had plenty of chances to win Monday's tournament game down the stretch and had the right person shooting in those crucial situations to try to pull out a victory.
But the Bears and Jon Williams failed to capitalize on those chances and allowed McDonald to escape with a 56-53 win in a semifinal game of the boys Division IV district basketball tournament at Struthers Fieldhouse.
"We had our opportunities," said Leetonia coach Jay Airhart, whose Bears rallied from a seven-point deficit (51-44) in about the final three minutes to make it close near the end.
But McDonald withstood the rally at the foul line with Matt Krumpak's foul shot with about 44 seconds left -- his only point of the game -- giving the Blue Devils a 54-52 lead to provide the margin of victory.
Andy Timko's two foul shots with about four seconds left gave McDonald much-needed insurance and its final 56-53 lead.
McDonald holds on
"We had a six-point lead with 1 1/2 minutes to go. We were fortunate to have that six-point lead," McDonald coach Jeff Rasile said. But, "We started throwing the ball all over the place. I [blame] that [on] inexperience."
McDonald (16-7) advanced to Friday's district final at 7 p.m. at Struthers and will face the winner of tonight's semifinal between Mineral Ridge and Heritage Christian at 7.
Although Williams missed two goal attempts and a foul shot and threw the ball away once underneath at crunch time, Leetonia wouldn't have had a chance to be that close without him.
Williams scored nine of the Bears' 11 points in the final period and finished with a game-high 18 points.
"[Williams] had a great fourth quarter. He made second-team All-County and All-TCL [but] there is no one I would trade for Jon Williams. There is no one else I would rather have at the foul line at that point," Airhart said. "Without Jon Williams, we're not even in the game."
Andy Kisner also missed a layup with eight seconds left for Leetonia.
Four players key McDonald
Scott Sentner led McDonald with 15 points while Timko added 14 and Steve Hughes 13, including three 3-point goals, and Bradley Henton 10 points.
Sentner had a steal and goal that gave the Blue Devils its 51-44 lead.
"Sentner did a good job attacking the 2-3 zone from the short corner," Rasile said.
Rasile said his team was able to build its crucial six-point lead on two factors: "We hit a couple of 3s and had some breakout steals," he pointed out.
Airhart said his team was able to rally by pressure defense. "We put some pressure and got some turnovers," Airhart said. And, "Williams and Kisner had drives to the basket. They attacked the basket real well."
Ryan Weikert added 10 points for the Bears, including two treys, while Kisner had eight points and promising freshman Josh Selway seven.
Airhart said McDonald got its lead by shooting well.
"They made some shots from the perimeter and had a couple of nine 1-on-1s [foul shots]," Airhart said.
kovach@vindy.com