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McDonald remains perfect in D-4
By JON MOFFETT
jmoffett@vindy.com
STRUTHERS
Photo
(1) Justin Rota of McDonald and DeShon Pullie battle for the ball during their game Monday night in Struthers.
Wellsville High entered the Division IV boys basketball tournament as the No. 3 seed, but no matter what the number was, McDonald High had it.
The Tigers (20-3) lost only three games this year, including Monday’s 78-46 loss in the district semifinal. All three losses came at the hands of the undefeated Blue Devils (22-0).
Wellsville coach David Thompson said the reason McDonald had so much success against his team was simple: Effort.
“They played harder than we did when we’ve played them,” he said. “That’s the bottom line.”
The bottom line after one quarter showed both teams deadlocked at 15 with neither side gaining any sort of offensive momentum.
But the Blue Devils caught fire in the second quarter.
A 10-0 run early in the period propelled McDonald to a 20-point quarter. And the Blue Devils allowed only five points.
“They struggle with our pressure at times,” McDonald coach Jeff Rasile said. “I saw from them what I saw from us on Friday night, a little frustration with each other.
“About midway through the first quarter, I saw it on their faces and they started kind of chirping at each other, which is what we did Friday night. When you do that in big games, it causes you problems. You need to play as a team.”
Thompson agreed, saying his team lost its composure early and was not about to rebound.
“The kids played hard most of the time [this season],” he said. “Tonight they just lost their composure. In the two other games against them, they lost their composure. We had a lead and blew it. The kids played hard all year. Except for tonight.”
Leading the charge for the Tigers was senior Jeremy Carter with 13 points.
But countering him on the other end were McDonald senior Zach Puntel and junior Matthias Tayala. Each had 19 points.
“Zach has been struggling a little bit and I got on him last game,” Rasile said. “When he goes to the hoop, he’s pretty dangerous. Sometimes he does nothing but shoot 3 after 3 after 3, and that’s OK. But we need to attack the rim.”
And attack the rim he did.
Puntel was sent to the free throw line nine times, the most of any player. He sank six of the attempts.
“We just came out, worked hard and busted our butts,” Puntel said. “We had a good game plan coming and we knew it was going to be a challenge and we’d have to come out here and work hard.”
One thing both teams struggled with was free throws. McDonald sank half of its attempts (13 of 26) while Wellsville made only three of its 13 attempts.
“In big games, it comes down to free throw shooting, rebounds and turnovers sometimes,” Rasile said. “You’ve got to make those free throws.”