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McDonald wins back-and-forth contest with Girard
By ERIC FORTUNE
GIRARD
Through the first eight games of the season, the McDonald Blue Devils’ smallest margin of victory was 24.
Over the last two games, things have changed a bit with victories of 14 and just nine.
Things got even more unpredictable Tuesday night with 13 lead changes and the Blue Devils escaping with a 77-72 win against the Girard Indians.
“We knew this was going to be a tough game, make no mistake about it,” McDonald coach Jeff Rasile said. “We expected a very difficult game. We work very hard at winning basketball games. We’ve been here for a long time and have had some success. At the end of the day, we just want to win.”
Coming into the game, the Indians (5-7) had beaten the Blue Devils (11-0) each of the last two years and it almost seemed as if the trifecta was in place.
They limited freshman sharpshooter Zach Rasile to just two field goal attempts in the first half.
“We thought it would be best to take him out of it,” Girard coach Craig Hannon said. “Watching film, we saw a lot of teams weren’t guarding him like they should. Some other teams held him to a low number. He can shoot it, but their other players are solid. That’s what hurt us tonight. Their other guys were excellent tonight.”
Austin Claussell was big in helping the Indians take the haltime lead scoring 10 of his game-high 27 points in the second quarter.
At one point he scored eight consecutive points for Girard turning a 27-24 McDonald lead into a 30-27 Girard lead.
“The last few games, he has really played well,” Hannon said. “He’s a good ball handler and he’s stronger than he looks at the rim at finishing. He still has a long way to go to develop as a player, but as a ball handler, he’s really developing on the go this year.”
Coming out of the half, Girard looked poised to break the game wide open going on a 7-2 run after a Claussell three made it 41-34.
Instead, McDonald did what it does best forcing the Indians into 17 second half turnovers and recapturing the lead at 48-47 after three.
The Blue Devils broke a 56 all tie after Joe Ragazzine made a pair of free throws with 4:12 left to play. It was a lead they did not relinquish
Ragazzine led the Blue Devils with 26 points. Poole (18 points) picked up his fourth foul late in the third quarter and Evan Magill (15 points) left for some time in the final quarter due to cramping.