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McDonald tames Tigers after surviving slow start
By DAN HINER
NEW MIDDLETOWN
The first half of the boys basketball game between McDonald and Springfield didn’t go the way the Blue Devils expected. McDonald picked up unnecessary fouls, turned the ball over and trailed going into the half.
But McDonald freshman Zach Rasile stepped up and scored 20 points in the second half to give the Blue Devils a 78-68 win on the road Tuesday night.
Rasile scored a game-high 31 points, including seven 3-pointers.
Springfield (14-5) jumped out to a 16-7 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Tigers took advantage of early fouls against McDonald forward Braedon Poole, allowing Springfield to drive to the basket.
The Tigers were led by Jake Ford and Fankie Centofanti. They combined to score 19 of the Tigers’ 35 first-half points. Ford finished with a team-high 18 points, grabbed four steals and four rebounds. Centofanti was second on the team with 14 points and three steals.
McDonald (20-1) trailed 35-31 at the start of the third quarter, but the Blue Devils outscored the Tigers 26-11 in the third quarter and took their first lead of the game at 5:57 of the quarter.
Rasile scored nine of the team’s first 13 second-half points.
McDonald head coach Jeff Rasile said the Blue Devils were setting better screens in the second half, which allowed his son Zach, a freshman, to find more open looks.
“If Zach gets shots, he makes shots, typically. Zach’s gotta come ready to play,” Jeff Rasile said. “I don’t think, in the first quarter, he was ready to play the way he should have been. That’s a freshman playing varsity basketball. He’s gotta learn a lesson there, and the whole team’s gotta learn, because across the board, I don’t think the whole team was ready to play.”
Springfield head coach Eric Fender said he knew the Blue Devils were going to make a run in the second half. He said he prepared for the game knowing McDonald has a tendency of picking up the tempo in the third quarter.
“Any time you can head into halftime up three or four points against a good team like McDonald, you’ll take it,” Fender said. “One of the things we have always been worried about when we play them is that they really like to push the tempo at the start of the third quarter. They did that, they went on that run and that’s a testament to them.”
On the defensive side of the court, Poole clogged the lanes to the basket after sitting out most of the first half. He blocked four shots in the second half and picked up three steals in the second half. Poole scored 13 points, grabbed five steals, five blocks and three rebounds.
McDonald took a 57-45 lead into the fourth quarter. The Tigers started to come back in the beginning of the fourth, but the Blue Devils put the game out of reach after a 9-0 run with five minutes left.
After Springfield was forced to intentionally foul, McDonald’s Dylan Portolese frequently found himself on the line.
Portolese made all eight of his free throws in the final 1:42 and finished with 17 points.
“I thought in the first half, the 50-50 balls, the rebounds, the loose balls — we got none of them,” Jeff Rasile said. “Shame on us. That’s what we build our program on, pride our program on — getting those balls. We didn’t get them and that’s one reason we were losing at halftime.
“With that said, [the] kids showed guts in the second half and took care of business.”