South Range works overtime to beat McDonald
McDonald vs South Range
By Gary Housteau
BEAVER TOWNSHIP
The rabid fans inside South Range’s gymnasium certainly got their money’s worth and more in an epic battle of two unbeatens as it took an extra session for the host Raiders to defeat McDonald, 73-66.
South Range took an eight-point lead in the fourth quarter and held off a furious comeback by the Blue Devils. It took a free throw by Dan Ritter, after he missed the first one with 1.8 seconds left in regulation, to send the game into overtime.
The Raiders then outscored McDonald 8-3 in OT to earn the victory and remain unbeaten.
“It was a good game. A good high school basketball game. We came out on the losing end,” said McDonald head coach Jeff Rasile. “We knew it was going to be a tough game. That game could have went either way. It is what it is. We didn’t get the breaks down the stretch.”
South Range kept McDonald pretty much at arms length on the scoreboard for most of the first half as they led 23-18 after one and 37-30 at the intermission. The Raiders led by as many as nine in the second quarter.
But junior Braedon Poole scored the first 11 points of the third quarter for McDonald and the game was tied at 41. Poole scored 18 of his game-high 20 points in the second half.
“Braedon’s got all-star ability. We need him to be a little bit more aggressive defensively and on the boards and sprint around,” Rasile said. “But he’s got all-star ability.”
South Range head coach John Cullen raved about Poole.
“That was an explosion. Poole went off there for a little bit,” Cullen said. “He’s got another gear. He’s good. But the first half was [Evan] McGill. McGill, just dominated the game and we couldn’t stay in front of him. The second half we did a much better job on him but then we sprang a leak someplace else. So that’s kind of how that goes.”
McGill scored eight of his 16 points before halftime. Rasile’s son Zach added 11 points.
“Evan’s playing the whole game,” Jeff Rasile said. “He’s given us everything he’s got and that’s all we can ask for.”
For the Raiders, the Ritter twins led the way on the scoreboard as Anthony scored 18 and Dan had a double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds. Sophomore Jaxon Anderson added 14 points and junior Brandon Youngs had 11.
“The sophomore came in and did a pretty good job, Anderson,” Cullen said. “He made a lot of plays for us and he’s just sick as a dog, too. I can’t believe he stayed in there that much.”
Dan Ritter couldn’t contain his elation.
“It’s so exciting to take down a team like this — they’re No. 1 in the state,” Ritter said.
“And to keep our streak going is amazing.”
Anthony Ritter was just as excited.
“I don’t know if I’m going to sleep tonight,” he said. “I’m so excited we got this win against this great team. They’re No. 1 in their division and we’re like 16th in ours, so and this shows that we can beat anyone.”
South Range (14-0) hosts Springfield on Friday.
“We’re playing a team that’s won 33 straight league games and won five straight championships, so that concerns me a little bit,” Cullen said.
“We haven’t beaten them yet and they got a really nice player that’s having a wonderful season over there.”
Streaks are made to be broken of course. Rasile lost to South Range for the first time in his career and his Blue Devils dip to 11-1.
“South Range has a great program, but a former coach of mine told me in 13 years I’ve never lost to South Range — 20-0,” Rasile said. “So this is their victory. I guess it’s a tough loss this year but we’ll take 20-1 over 13 years. It’s great preparation for the tournament.”