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McDonald’s Seitz scores 38 in rout
By STEVE WILAJ
BERLIN CENTER
In the first half of McDonald’s 91-47 win at Western Reserve Friday night, Blue Devils forward Matt Seitz knocked down shot after shot, firing his way to 23 halftime points.
Connecting on 5 of 8 shots from behind-the-arc and 9 of 12 attempts overall in the first two quarters, it was easy to get caught up in the dynamic show the McDonald big man displayed.
Even Seitz himself lost track.
“I really didn’t notice [the 23 points] until I looked up at the scoreboard,” he said.
When all was said and done, the final scoreboard totaled Seitz for 38 points. He finished 14 of 20 from the field, including 6 of 11 from 3-point range, as McDonald improved to 5-0.
“Yeah, I was feeling it,” Seitz said. “But I have to give a lot of credit to my teammates for getting me the ball.”
Adding to Seitz’s game-high scoring was teammate Stephen Politano with 22 points. In the first half, Western Reserve made a conscious effort to slow Politano — which they did — holding the senior guard to just six points.
“They played a box-and-one or tried to man up Stephen,” McDonald coach Jeff Rasile said.
However, that defensive strategy left Seitz to reap the benefits.
“Resulting, Matt hit four or five 3s right off the bat,” Rasile said. “He’s a shooter and that’s what we expect him to do. The kid puts a lot of time in basketball and that’s what we expect him to do.”
Before Seitz’s scoring barrage, Western Reserve (2-3) held a brief 12-7 first quarter lead and trailed only 14-12 after the first eight minutes.
But falling victim to an intensified McDonald full-court press, Western Reserve committed 18 first-half turnovers and 31 overall. Blue Devils coach Tim King said the McDonald pressure was the difference in the outcome.
“That’s the way they play and if you don’t have five skilled people that can handle that pressure, they’re gonna get you,” King said. “That’s what they did. They got us.”
Seitz agreed that the press was vital in the victory.
“We bring up the intensity more in the second half. I don’t know why. I guess that’s just how we are,” he said. “I thought our front guys on the press did awesome tonight.”
Still, Nick Tobin had a big night for Western Reserve. He connected on all 10 of his shots en route to 22 points and 10 rebounds.
“McDonald’s very good,” King said. “But I’m really pleased with how hard we played from start to finish and I think if we keep doing that we can improve and get better.”