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Poole scores 33 to power McDonald past Sebring
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STRUTHERS
It wasn’t pretty, but considering the alternative, McDonald head coach Jeff Rasile will take it.
The Blue Devils handled Sebring, 82-60, in a Division IV district semifinal Tuesday night at the Struthers Fieldhouse, but Rasile wasn’t exactly ready to call it an artistic masterpiece.
“We’ll take a 20-point win, but it wasn’t clean basketball,” Rasile said. “It clearly wasn’t our best basketball. We had to have a ton of turnovers, especially in the first half, they were just silly turnovers. It wasn’t a great night but when it’s not a great night and you win by 20, you move on to the next round. In tournament play it’s all about winning and moving on.”
McDonald had 13 of its 18 turnovers in the first half, but one Blue Devil who just happened to have a great night was junior Braedon Poole. Both Poole and Dylan Portolese scored nine points in the first quarter for McDonald. The Blue Devils led 28-16 after one 43-32 at halftime.
Poole scored 18 of his game-high 33 points in the first half and added 10 boards.
“I say it all the time, it’s no secret, Braedon’s a star. His problem is the lapses,” Rasile said. “He needs to do it for 32 minutes and not 10 or 15 minutes. When Braedon is engaged in the game he’s a star.”
Poole however didn’t exactly seem impressed with his game when he heard the numbers.
“I just played hard. I was just shooting like I usually do,” Poole said. “I feel good. It’s a good feeling to come out with a win.”
Sebring head coach Josh Scott obviously had to pick his poison when it came to defending the Blue Devils.
“I was really proud of our guys today, they did a lot of things really well,” Scott said. “We defended them well. At the end of the day I think that their offensive firepower was just too much. When we were able to take Zach Rasile away, who’s a phenomenal basketball player, Poole would step up, [Joe] Ragazzine would step up.
“Portolese got a couple put-backs that we just got out of position because we were so focused on taking some other guys away. So that’s what makes them good. They’re diverse, they’re well-rounded, they’ve got a bunch of different guys that could hurt you.”
Zach Rasile had two 3-pointers in the first quarter but was held scoreless after that.
“Their game plan was clear to take Zach out of the game,” Jeff Rasile said. “Zach had some big games against them in the middle of the year. We figured that, and we’re OK with that. When teams are overplaying Zach, it leaves a lot open for Braedon to score or Rags [was] open a couple times. He had some layups. So it doesn’t matter.”
Ragazzine ended the game with 17 points and six rebounds. Portolese finished with 18 points and four caroms. And Evan Magill, who was nursing a groin injury and wasn’t even sure if he would play, still managed to score seven points and had a game-high 11 rebounds.
“We won. I’m happy to move on,” Jeff Rasile said. “We got a lot of stuff that we’ve got to clean up in the next couple of days.”
McDonald (24-1) will take on Southern in a district final on Friday in Struthers.
“Southern Local has a lot of momentum, they played great basketball [Monday] night,” Jeff Rasile said. “[Jacob] Joiner is a very good player and we have our hands full. There’s no easy games when you get to this point. You got to kind of throw the records out and just say. ‘Look, Southern Local is 3-0 in the tournament and we’re 3-0 in the tournament, you got to come to play’ ”
Robbie Rouse led Sebring (13-12) with 21 points and six rebounds.