Lisbon surges to defeat McDonald

February 10, 2016 at 12:10a.m.

LISBON

Some speculated that the top two basketball seeds for the Division IV district tournament at Struthers might hold back in their showdown.

Fat chance on this Tuesday.

In Lisbon’s 61-54 victory over McDonald, both teams went toe-to-toe for about 31 minutes.

Then Josh Craig out-muscled two McDonald defenders for a rebound and jumped for a go-ahead basket for Lisbon (19-1). A few seconds later, Craig made two free throws for a 57-54 lead.

McDonald (18-3) didn’t quit, creating a play that gave Jake Reckard a baseline 3-pointer attempt that missed. Josh Liberati secured the rebound then made two free throws. Austin Rutecki sealed the victory with two more free throws.

“It was very enjoyable,” Craig said of playing before packed stands and a television audience.

“Great student section, great atmosphere, great teams going at it,” Lisbon head coach Chris Huckshold said. “I always tell the kids, ‘Good teams don’t get crowds like this, great teams do.’

“And McDonald is a great team,” Huckshold said. “We were fortunate enough to make a couple of [big] shots in the fourth quarter.”

Rutecki, who became Lisbon’s all-time scorer last Friday, led with 17 points, 14 rebounds and eight blocks. Craig’s double-double had 16 points and 10 rebounds while Liberati had 14 points and six assists. Trevor Reese had 11 rebounds.

Reckard led McDonald with 17 points, eight rebounds and five steals.

McDonald head coach Jeff Rasile said he thought his players did well “in a hostile environment. We knew it was going to be a tough game.

“They have four kids who have been starting since their freshmen year, four 1,000-point scorers,” Rasile said. “With that said, I thought we should have won the game.

“We had a lead with a minute-and-a-half left and we didn’t execute down the stretch. The one thing we take from this is that we absolutely can play with them,” Rasile said. “Hopefully, we’ll get another shot.”

For accuracy’s sake, Rutecki, Liberati and Avery Andric were starters as freshmen while Craig was first off the bench. Rutecki, Craig and Liberati all have surpassed 1,000 points while Andric needs 27 more points to reach 1,000.

Liberati said the victory provides “a lot of momentum going into the tournament. It’s a great win against a really, really good team.”

Huckshold credited his defenders for limiting McDonald’s potent offense to nine points in the final quarter.

“A lot of the shots they are used to getting, they were seeing Lisbon Blue Devils in front of them,” Huckshold said.

Rutecki was impressed by the defense.

“To step up against that great team and how quick they are, keeping them to 54, this is great for us,” Rutecki said. After each team scored 17 points in the opening quarter, McDonald pressed and seized control. Reckard hit a 3-pointer for a 26-19 lead.

Rasile felt an unusual break gave Lisbon a chance to regroup.

“TV timeout killed us in the second quarter,” Rasile said. “I thought we had them a little bit exhausted.

“But that’s part of the game.”

Lisbon closed the first half with a 14-5 run for a 33-31 edge at halftime.

Rutecki said he enjoyed playing against McDonald’s skill.

“They try to get up-tempo, everyone is running around fast, you’ve got subs coming in and out, and you’ve got to match up [quickly]. This was great for us.”