McDonald cruises, will play Windham

March 3, 2012 at 12:00a.m.

WARREN

The McDonald High boys basketball team wasted little time in establishing dominance in Friday night’s game against Lordstown in the opening round of the Division IV sectional tournament at Warren Harding.

The Blue Devils didn’t score the first points, but scored four unanswered field goals to take an 8-2 lead.

That was just the beginning.

At the end of the night, McDonald recorded a 77-52 victory over the Red Devils.

The win set up a confrontation at 6 p.m. Tuesday with Windham (13-8). The Bombers earned the match-up with the Blue Devils by defeating Mineral Ridge, 88-64.

“[We] deliberately set a fast tempo at the start of the game,” said McDonald coach Brian Higgens. “We’re a little smaller than Lordstown, so we wanted to set a tempo where maybe we’d get some hoops in transition.

“The fast tempo really worked out in our favor. It opened some holes in their defense.”

“We came to play tonight,” added junior Tyler Smith, McDonald’s leading scorer with 27 points. “We hit some big shots, we got on them early.

The most exciting shots of the night were 3-pointers launched by McDonald junior Stephen Politano.

He sunk one that scored the final points of the first quarter to give McDonald (13-8) a 21-9 lead.

Politano then topped it with a buzzer-beater to end the third quarter. He connected on six total triples and finished with 25 points.

The third quarter shot, specifically, brought the crowd to its feet and put the Blue Devils on top 55-39.

“I couldn’t tell you much about how it happens,” he said of his 3-point talent. “It just happens.”

Politano added coach Higgens encourages him to take chances on the deep shot.

“All summer coach prepared me,” he said.

Lordstown coach Brent Villella admitted that McDonald’s style of play minimized his team’s height advantages.

“Our kids put themselves in position to be successful, but McDonald made more plays tonight,” he said.

The Red Devils (8-14) were led by senior Zack Wells, who stands 6-feet-2, and sophomore Jake Jones, who tallied 14 points. The Lordstown lineup also includes 6-foot-7 senior Kyle Johnson, who tallied six points, and 6-foot-4 sophomore Steven Gill, who put four points on the board.

In the earlier game, Windham led by 17 points, 33-16, at the end of the first quarter.

The Bombers’ lead bulged to 51-28 at halftime and 69-42 at the three-quarter mark.

“We knew they were a strong team, an aggressive team,” said Mineral Ridge coach Bryan Davis. “They out-worked us in the first and we got behind. It’s hard to come back when you’re that far behind.”

Windham coach Marty Hill couldn’t have asked for a better game to begin the postseason.

“It was a good way to start the tournament,” he said. “A lot of kids got to play, a lot of kids scored. We shot real well tonight. Not only did we make layups off of steals, we shot 3s.”

Hill said senior Tyler Pennington “had an outstanding game.”

With 22 points, Pennington was the game’s leading scorer. Junior Cameron Pozsgai snagged a game-high 14 rebounds for the Bombers.

Mineral Ridge (8-14) was led by senior Kyle Hanshaw, senior Chris Kirby, and sophomore Jonathan Baker, who each tallied 11 points.

Senior Jeff Marsolo tallied 10 points for the Rams.

“We’ve got our hand full Tuesday night,” Higgens said. “We know Windham’s a good team. Our kids will be ready.”