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Rasile, McDonald shoot down Western Reserve
By ERIC FORTUNE
McDONALD
A month ago, Western Reserve proved it could match whatever McDonald threw at it before watching McDonald squeak by with an overtime win.
Tonight, McDonald didn’t leave anything to chance.
It used a big second quarter to build a double-digit lead en route to another Inter-Tri County, Blue Tier title in a 96-80 victory.
McDonald’s Braedon Poole felt the difference this time around was their defense and not allowing Cole DeZee to go off like he did last time.
“Defense was the key because early on last game DeZee hit like eight 3s and that’s what kept them in the game,” Poole said.
DeZee led Western Reserve with 20 points, but 15 came in the second half.
That defense was key holding Western Reserve (15-4, 7-2) to just 5-of-18 shooting from the field.
McDonald (19-1, 9-0) was deadly at a 73-percent clip. Zach Rasile nearly outscored Western Reserve himself with 12 of his game-high 25 in the quarter.
McDonald coach Jeff Rasile felt that eventually his team’s shots would fall.
McDonald had six players in double figures with Joey Ragazzine putting up 20.
“We play our game no matter what,” Jeff Rasile said. “We’re going to come at you every single possession. The thing about Zach and Rags — their shots were dead-on. Eventually they’ll fall. We don’t worry about that. We keep playing our game, keep pushing the pace. We score 12 points in the first quarter and finish with 96.”
Zach Rasile was also big driving inside and getting to the line. That was a recurring theme, as McDonald got to the line 39 times compared to just six for Western Reserve.
Zach Rasile again was deadly behind the arc with five 3s.
“Zach has indicated that he’s going to shoot the 3,” Jeff Rasile said. “That’s his bread and butter. We’ve been pushing him to attack a little bit more. I think next year you’ll see a different Zach Rasile. He’ll gain 20 pounds and grow three inches and he’ll be attacking that rim.”
Western Reserve struggled at the rim and was unable to finish shots in the paint as McDonald opened up a 41-24 lead at the half and 66-41 after three quarters.
“We didn’t do a good job of finishing around the rim and we turned the ball over too much in the first half,” Western Reserve coach Patsy Daltorio said. “We got ourselves in the hole. They shot the ball well and the rest is history.”
Western Reserve was hoping to use the big bodies of Cody Hilles and Jack Cappabianca to work against Poole inside.
“With their style of play, we need them to be pinchers,” Daltorio said. “We wanted to try and get their guys in foul trouble because we do have a bit of an advantage there.”
At least initially, it looked like to be a good plan when Poole picked up his second foul at the 1:30 mark of the first quarter.
“I tried to go against them but I kept getting hit with charge calls,” Poole said.” It doesn’t really faze me, though.”
McDonald’s frustrations were short-lived.
“They’re going to go on their runs with their style of play,” Daltorio said. “You have to expect crazy things are going to happen in a game like this.”