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McDonald surges to overtake S. Range
By CHARLES GROVE
McDonald
Two of the top boys basketball teams in the Inter-Tri County League clashed Tuesday, with McDonald grinding out a 76-69 win over South Range.
The Blue Devils (13-1) were averaging 90.2 points but South Range (10-4) frustrated McDonald most of the evening, not allowing the Blue Devils to get out and run as much as they wanted.
“There’s times we come out like against Sebring for example and we have 57 points at halftime,” McDonald coach Jeff Rasile said. “There’s other times it’s going to be a grind. South Range at the beginning of the season was picked to win the conference and we knew it was going to be a tough game.
“It was a tough game.”
Three McDonald players scored in double-figures — Jake Reckard with 13 while Matt Howard and Braedon Poole each scored 11. Nine of 11 players scored for McDonald.
For the Raiders, Preston Stitt and Brandon Youngs were the main offensive threats, scoring 28 and 20 points, respectively. Stitt scored 13 in the fourth quarter.
The Raiders made it interesting in the end, cutting the lead to three with 44 seconds remaining, but that’s as close as they would get. McDonald hit free throws down the stretch and improved to 7-1 at home this season.
“That’s going to be a hard team to beat for anybody,” South Range coach John Cullen said. “There was a spurt where we missed seven straight shots and you have to be productive throughout the whole game against [McDonald].”
Run-and-gun seems to have been the style McDonald has enjoyed most of the year, but initially the Raiders were the ones completing cross-court passes and spreading out the Blue Devils. That triggered a wild opening quarter which saw 11 lead changes and a 19-18 South Range lead.
“You have to spread them out because the thing that makes them so good is their recovery,” Cullen said. “It’s better than any McDonald team I’ve ever seen.”
The Raiders were able to extend their lead to seven after a layup from Youngs made it 25-18 midway through the second quarter, but the Blue Devils hung around, staying within a possession or two, trailing 36-35 at halftime.
Whatever motivation Howard found during halftime translated well on the court as the senior forward came out in the third quarter in full command on both ends of the court.
Howard tallied seven of his 11 points in the third quarter and swatted away multiple shots at the rim. After sinking two free throws, Howard came up with a steal and took it all the way in for a layup to give McDonald a 50-49 lead, their first lead since 18-17, and the Blue Devils never looked back.
“Matt’s really starting to come around now because he struggled earlier in the year,” Rasile said. “We are a better team when Matt’s playing great basketball because he controls the boards. He’s a big body inside and he hits the offensive and defensive boards.”
The pressure shifted South Range’s way, and the offense that had been slicing through McDonald’s defense had difficulty finding the basket.