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McDonald’s Pugh turns back Bristol
McDonald’s Pugh turns back Bristol
Pugh scored 35 points on 9 of 22 shooting, including 17 of 18 from the foul line, in McDonald’s 76-65 victory.
By Steve Wilaj
STRUTHERS
Growing up, McDonald point guard Anthony Pugh’s older brother noticed a certain tenacity in his younger brother.
When I was younger, he always said, ‘You’re like a pit bull. You just keep coming,” Pugh said.
Bristol found out about the 5-foot-7 senior’s determination during Saturday’s matchup with the Blue Devils.
Pugh scored 35 points on 9 of 22 shooting, including 17 of 18 from the foul line, in McDonald’s 76-65 victory in game three of The Hope Classic Showcase at the Struthers Field House,
“I missed my first few shots early, but I just kept attacking,” Pugh said. “I’m not gonna let a bigger guy intimidate me. o I kept coming and I think I did that pretty well for the most part.”
McDonald (2-1) — which also received 25 points from Brad Woodley — led by just two after the first quarter. But then Pugh caught fire in the second, notching 14 points to help give the Blue Devils a 36-29 halftime lead.
Bristol (3-1) hung around for the entire second half as well — cutting the McDonald lead to six points with 3:30 remaining. However, each time the Panthers got close, Pugh responded.
“We would cut it down to two or three, then we would turn the ball over and [Pugh] did a great job of getting to the foul line tonight,” Bristol coach Craig Giesy said. “We’re a young team and we get after it, but it’s just gonna take us some time.”
Alex Jones paced the Panthers with 18 points, while Zach McMillion added 16.
“We only play seven and they play a lot of guys, so our main concern was if Anthony and Brad could go all 32 minutes,” McDonald coach Jeff Rasile said. “And they were able to at a pretty good pace.
“Then Anthony was able to make free throws down the stretch, which we expect because the kid puts in so much time in the gym.”
The Blue Devils shot 26 of 35 from the foul line as a group. Meanwhile, Bristol went just 9 of 19 from the charity stripe. Giesy was also unhappy about the way the Panthers handled McDonald’s press, which forced 20 turnovers.
“We were prepared for what they were gonna bring and I thought, for the most past, we executed pretty well,” Pugh said.