McDonald outlasts Lowellville to remain perfect in ITCL 2

By Jon Moffett

The Blue Devils have achieved a perfect regular season three out of the past four years.

McDONALD — Devin Bansberg has seen a lot of basketball victories in his career at McDonald High, and he wasn’t about to let his team see one against Lowellville and spoil another perfect season.

The 6-foot-1 senior scored a game-high 19 points in a 58-52 victory, giving the Blue Devils (20-0, 14-0 Inter Tri-County League Tier 2) their second-consecutive perfect regular-season, and third such campaign in the past four years.

“It’s big at the end of the season for us, because it was a tough game and we’re doing well going into the tournament,” Bansberg said.

If winning equates to momentum, the Blue Devils have enough to power through a brick wall.

Head coach Jeff Rasile said winning has become second nature to his team.

“We just want to win basketball games,” he said. “It’s been a special run. We’ve been undefeated three out of the last four years, so it’s been a special run. These boys, this six kids who played tonight, have been undefeated two years in a row in basketball and undefeated two years in a row in football. It’s something special to them.”

The Rockets (14-6, 10-4) did the best they could to play spoiler, but ultimately ran out of time.

Lowellville led after three quarters and chipped away at a large McDonald lead late in the fourth quarter. But as the clock ticked away, the Rockets had no choice but to foul in an effort to regain possession.

Head coach Mike Mangine said his team should be proud of itself for not giving up and playing hard against a tough team. But poor free-throw shooting doomed the Rockets, who made only three shots on eight attempts.

Lowellville did not have a free-throw attempt in the first half.

“This was everything that we waited for,” Mangine said. “I thought we had them at Lowellville [earlier this year] but we didn’t make foul shots and key plays at the end. And we thought we had them here, but we didn’t make foul shots and key plays at the end.”

Whether the missed opportunities were instrumental to the outcome, Mangine said he told his team not to feel down about losing a close game to a good opponent.

“Three out of fours years we put on the board that they were 20-0. They’re a good team,” he said. “They know how to finish, they’re a good group of kids, they have a good coaching staff and maybe they are better than us. But we gave them everything we had, and I’m not ashamed of that.

“Some people are better than others, but we gave them everything we had and I don’t feel guilty and I don’t feel bad.”

The seesaw game had both teams feeling that they could win. It seemed like every time McDonald made a big shot, Lowellville was there to counter it, especially in the first half.

With 3.8 seconds left in the first half, Bansberg made a layup and was fouled by Lowellville senior Joe Harris. Bansberg made the free throw to give the Blue Devils a five-point lead.

Not to be outdone, the Rockets inbounded the ball and junior Mike Mangine heaved up a 3-point shot that banked in.

The Rockets trailed 28-26 at the half.

Rasile said he knew Lowellville would prove to be a tough opponent and said the Rockets wouldn’t leave McDonald without a fight.

“We didn’t expect them to go away,” he said. “They won 14 games this year, they went to the wire with [AAC White Tier champion] Struthers. We knew it was going to come down to the wire and that it would be a difficult challenge for us.”

Rasile was also very complimentary of the Rockets, saying the team is a lot like the Blue Devils in their tenacity and toughness.

“They’re a very good basketball team and they move the basketball well,” he said. “Coach Mangine does a great job. And when you have guards that can control the tempo of the game [like they do] it makes a huge difference. They’re going to be pretty tough to beat in the tournament.”

The Rockets were led by senior Mauro Amendola, whose 13 points were a team-high. Behind him were Harris with 11, and Mangine, who finished with 10 points, including six from beyond the arc.

McDonald juniors Matthias Tayala and Justin Rota had 15 and 13 points, respectively.

Coach Mangine summed everything up by saying he knew his team was due for a win against the Blue Devils, though he didn’t know when to pencil it on the calendar.

“They’re a good team and a well-coached team,” he said. “We’ll get them someday. I just don’t know when that is.”

jmoffett@vindy.com