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Tubbs powers Chaney to rout of McDonald
By ERIC FORTUNE
MCDONALD
Chaney boys basketball, in its first year back after a long hiatus, has returned in a big way.
The Cowboys used a strong second quarter to pull away in a 77-56 victory over McDonald, which had won six of its last seven.
Jamison Tubbs paced the Cowboys with 23 points. He had three 3-pointers as Chaney finished with seven.
“We had to give them something because we couldn’t match up with those guys,” McDonald coach Jeff Rasile said. “We gave them the 3 and they hit them, especially in the first half. What are you going to do? With that said, we’re up 12-9 and they hit a 3, and we have two crazy turnovers.”
Zach Rasile sparked the Blue Devils (12-8) with eight points in the opening quarter but was held in check for the better part of the final three quarters finishing with 16 points and no 3s. He is the current record holder in that category in the state of Ohio.
“Our defense predicates what we do offensively,” Chaney assistant coach Andre Brown said. “Our plan tonight was to stop Rasile, who is a great shooter. I think the kids responded well to everything. We feel that if we come out and pressure, we’re so deep that we can run.”
The Cowboys’ 8-0 run to end the opening quarter carried over into the second quarter. After McDonald got it back within seven, Chaney finished off the quarter on a 14-4 run to make it 41-24 at the half.
“We wanted to do two things tonight: rebound the ball on the defensive end,” Rasile said. “I thought we did OK. And we wanted to eliminate our turnovers. It was probably 30-plus. We can’t win a game with those turnovers.”
McDonald still had some life and got within nine, 43-34, midway through the third quarter. But turnovers and Chaney’s athleticism was a bit too much to handle as the Cowboys closed out the quarter on a 16-6 run.
“They probably had 30 more possessions because we turned the ball over,” Rasile said. “We made some runs in the second half. I love my kids, but the better team won, no mistake about it. If we played Chaney 10 times, I don’t know if we’d beat them.”
The Cowboys (15-5) are riding a seven-game winning streak after beating a McDonald team that has been the class of Trumbull County over the last decade.
“We’re still a young team,” Brown said. “We play a lot of young kids and just try to build a program. Coming in, we weren’t even sure what we had. I think the kids have responded well and bought into the system.”