43
Rasile, Poole combine for 46 in McDonald win
McDONALD
McDonald’s Zach Rasile scored 21 first-half points and Braedon Poole had 18 second-half points as the host Blue Devils handed Girard its first loss, 75-63, Tuesday night.
That’s what we expect from them,” said McDonald head coach Jeff Rasile. “Zach could have had a better second half and he knows it. But in the first half he obviously carried us. And then Braedon came out well-rested, because he sat thrtee-fourths of the first half, and dominated the second half.”
It was a game of runs as McDonald opened the game with a 12-2 lead and then the Blue Devils widened their half time lead, 34-33, with a 10-2 spurt to start the third period and Girard never recovered.
“The big key is Braedon staying out of foul trouble,” Jeff Rasile said. “He didn’t have his best first half and we had to sit him with three fouls. Zach carried us in the first half and Braedon carried us in the second half.”
Girard head coach Craig Hannon thought his team had a good run of its own in the second quarter.
“I felt like we had a four-minute run really at the end of the second half and Rasile kept them in it with some of the shots he made,” Hannon said. “But we’ve been ugly in both games in the third quarter so we have to figure out, out of halftime, what we have to be a little better at.”
The Indians put just six points on the board in the third quarter and McDonald led 50-39 going in to the fourth.
“It was ugly,” Hannon said. “We missed easy ones. It wasn’t anything we weren’t prepared for. We were ready for their pressure, we have the guys to do it. We just missed a ton of bunnies, a ton of them. But they do a good job of contesting and fighting through the back sides and stuff, but I just felt like we had some easy looks and couldn’t convert them. It’s as simple as that.”
But Hannon gave McDonald (2-0) the credit for the win as Girard dropped to 1-1.
“Oh yeah, they’re really good,” he said. “They have two really good players. The Poole kid is outstanding and Rasile is improving every second of every game. They pose some problems for you. We felt like we handled the pressure well, I just felt like defensively we let a few things slip. But they’re a good basketball team.”
Jeff Rasile was happy his team got the victory.
“It was a big win. Girard is a very good basketball team, they’re going to win a lot of games this year,” the head coach said. “We kind of felt like we were the underdog coming into tonight, to be honest. They’re returning four starters and we have just two kids returning. We thought it was going to be a tough one and it was.”
Zach Rasile led the Blue Devils with 24 points and Poole finished with 22.
“I thought it was a really good win. We played hard,” Zach Rasile said. “It was obviously a one-point game at halftime and we came out and made a little run. Girard is obviously a good team. They’ll win a lot of games this year and I thought it was a great win for us.”
David Blackman led the Indians with 22 points and Austin Claussell had 15. McDonald outrebounded Girard 31-28. Poole led theBlue Devils with 10. Austin O’Hara had seven for the Indians.