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McDonald wins third to remain unbeaten
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REACHING FOR IT: Leetonia's Matt Newton (11) is fouled by McDonald's David JOhn as he dives to the oop in Friday's game in McDonald. The Blues Devils defeated the Bears, 68-55.
By Greg Gulas
Three Blue Devils scored in double figures to key a 68-55 victory over the Leetonia Bears.
McDONALD — Justin Rota’s 14 points led three McDonald High basketball players in double figures Friday as the Blue Devils defeated Leetonia, 68-55, in an Inter Tri-County League Tier Two opener.
“We had a total team effort tonight, but you have to remember that this all starts in practice for us,” Rota said. “Everyone works as hard as they can and I just try to do whatever it takes to help us get a win.
“It’s really nice to get that first league under win, but we must remain focused and just take them one game at a time,” Rota said. “The rest will then fall into place.”
Prior to the season, Leetonia rookie coach Vince Nittoli hoped that his squad could get off to a quick start, feeling that would be the key to instilling some confidence into his inexperienced, yet talented Bears’ lineup.
Despite the loss, Nittoli couldn’t fault his squad’s overall effort.
“This is just my third game as head coach but the players have already bought into our system,” Nittolo said. “That was reflected in our overall effort tonight.
“We have four seniors and rely on their leadership,” Nittoli said. “We’re not a real big team, but when we rest our big guys we’re small on the court and have to rely on speed.
“McDonald is an excellent program and Coach [Jeff] Rasile has them playing well,” Nittoli said. “Their press tonight was challenging and it just wore us down.
“Getting to the free throw line is one thing. Making those free throws is another and tonight both teams just struggled at the line,” Nittoli said.
Zach Puntel scored eight of his 11 points in the first quarter to help the Blue Devils (3-0, 1-0) race to a 20-16 lead after the first quarter of play.
Devin Bansberg, who also had 11 points for McDonald, then added six markers in the second period. Despite being outscored by the Bears in the period, 14-13, the Blue Devils took a 33-30 lead into the locker room at intermission.
“I thought that they controlled the offensive boards in the first half, but we controlled the ball in the second half,” Rasile said, “We substitute a lot as we try to stay fresh, but credit [Josh] Selway for keeping them in the game.
“Our goal is to wear our opposition down and while we have three wins under our belt, all by double figures, we really haven’t played our best basketball yet,” Rasile said.
“We hope that our defense will help us win games with the constant pressure that we apply, but we still committed some silly fouls tonight and must work on that part of our game,” Rasile said.
A bucket by Leetonia’s (1-2, 0-1) Michael Dowling at the 7:15 mark of the third quarter cut the Blue Devils lead to 35-33.
But that would be the closest they would get the rest of the way as McDonald went on a 14-5 run, keyed by Tommy Orr’s three buckets to open an 11-point margin then settled for a 51-42 lead heading to the final period of play.
The Blue Devils outscored Leetonia, 17-13 in the final stanza to secure their third straight win of the season.
McDonald held a 39-28 rebound margin while neither team took particularly good care of the ball, the former committing 19 turnovers to the Bears’ 23.
Both teams struggled at the free throw line, Leetonia canning just 18-of-33 charity tosses compared to 13-of-27 for the Blue Devils.