Blue Devils overcome Clippers’ comeback

By Tom Williams

McDonald kept its winning streak alive by scoring five points in the final 14 seconds.

YOUNGSTOWN — As cool and as slick as most Mahoning Valley sidewalks, McDonald junior Zach Puntel went to the foul line with 13.5 seconds remaining in Monday’s basketball showdown against Columbiana.

Puntel had been awarded three shots and his unbeaten Blue Devils trailed 67-64. He made the first one then had to wait as the Clippers used their final timeout. Back on the line, Puntel sank two more for a tie.

After the Clippers were called for traveling, the Blue Devils pushed the ball up to Devin Bansberg whose jumpshot bounced off the rim. With time expiring, sophomore Nick Rota grabbed the rebound and put it up for the winning basket in McDonald’s 69-67 victory Monday at the Chevrolet Centre.

Neither McDonald coach Jeff Rasile nor Columbiana coach Eric Whitmer was pleased with the 28 fouls that were assessed in the first half, with the Clippers taking 16 as they trailed 39-26.

“Nothing against the officials, but early it was foul, foul, foul,” Rasile said. “They took both teams out of their rhythm.”

The Blue Devils (10-0) made 26 of 39 free throws while the Clippers (7-3) sank 23 of 28.

“It seemed liked the first half lasted two hours and [key players] were sitting on the bench,” Rasile said. “When you have two of the premiere Division IV teams in the area and the fans don’t get to see [a] game ... but that’s life.”

Whitmer spoke calmly as he expressed his frustration.

“I told [my players] that I’ve been coaching a long, long time and I’ve never been with a more helpless feeling at halftime,” Whitmer said.

“We thought we were the marquee game [today] and people put $7 down to watch a [good] basketball game,” Whitmer said. “Twenty-eight fouls, the clock stopping constantly, players being put on the bench ... frankly, we weren’t even trapping very much.

“It’s a shame,” said Whitmer who added that the Clippers “certainly ... could have done things better in the first half.

“Somewhere, maybe late in the third quarter, maybe a basketball game broke out for a little bit,” Whitmer said with a smile. “I know I’m not supposed to talk about that stuff but how could I not?”

Trenton Hatherill’s basket from underneath gave the Clippers their final lead. Two free throws by Tyler Denmeade padded the lead to three before the Blue Devils rallied.

“It wasn’t a travel at the end of the game and the [final] shot was a full-second late, not a half second,” Whitmer said. “Sometimes you just have to just take it for what it is and move forward.

“I felt like we made enough plays to win. Obviously, that’s not what happened.”

Shifting to a five-on-four defense, the Clippers needed just 4:13 of the second half to wipe out McDonald’s 13-point edge.

“I thought we had pretty good control of the game,” Rasile said. “In the second half, we struggled. We just decided that we would let them stand in the zone and not attack them. And they would get the rebound and throw it out.

“The easiest way to stop that is to score and we didn’t do that,” Rasile said. “With about six minutes to go, we stopped attacking and they started getting aggressive.”

Clippers senior Kevin Blinsky scored all 17 of his points in the second half. Classmate Travis Denmeade led all scorers with 20. Tyler Denmeade had 11.

“Kids played hard on both sides,” Rasile said. “They made a great comeback in the second half.”

Sophomore Matthias Tayala led the Blue Devils with 18 points, all but two coming in the second half. Puntel scored 14 while Rota had 10.

The Blue Devils were without senior Lance Ronghi who was ill.

“We’re missing our leader and that’s difficult — Lance is the only kid returning from last year’s basketball team,” Rasile said. “When you don’t have your leader at the end of the game, things get ugly.”

williams@vindy.com