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Rasile, McDonald teammates take down Mineral Ridge
Rasile scores 32, but Celli, Tucker, Portolese also come up big against Rams
By Dan Hiner
Mineral Ridge
It wasn’t Zach Rasile’s best night, but the Blue Devils did enough as a team to beat Mineral Ridge 65-50 on Tuesday at Mineral Ridge High School.
Rasile shot 14 of 28 from the field and finished with 32 points and three rebounds. But Rasile didn’t have to carry the team.
Josh Celli scored 11 points while Cam Tucker and Jake Portolese each finished with 10. Portolese also added 13 rebounds.
“We took care of the ball, we rebounded the ball — we haven’t done that this year,” McDonald head coach Jeff Rasile said. “That’s been our downfall in some of these games. Tonight we did it.”
Celli, Tucker and Portolese combined to score 14 of the Blue Devils’ 33 second-half points.
“They made big plays down the stretch, especially to keep us ahead,” Zach Rasile said. “Even though I didn’t shoot well, I appreciate my teammates picking up the load.”
The Rams (11-7, 6-5 MVAC) trailed 32-28 at halftime, but scored just three points in the third period. Austin Governor made a layup with 3:30 remaining in the quarter and Triston Weiss split a pair of free throws.
“Obviously we’re a team that relies on shooting,” Mineral Ridge head coach Steve Hughes said. “When shots aren’t falling, you’re not gonna have success.”
Koby Zupko led the Rams with 16 points and Governor had 14 points. Jordan Zupko had eight points and 11 rebounds.
Waiting for History
Zach Rasile entered the game with 322 career 3-pointers. He needed eight to break the OHSAA career record.
He made four on Tuesday, leaving him four shy of Beverly Fort Frye product Tyler Engle’s record set in 2007. The McDonald junior was happy to pull out a second straight conference win.
The Blue Devils will host Sebring on Friday.
Postgame Conference
Immediately following the game, the McDonald coaches and players got into an altercation with fans and Jordan Zupko and Donavin Stull near the visitor’s locker room.
According to Jeff Rasile, Zach was on his way back to the locker room when members of the Mineral Ridge student section started chanting “Daddy’s boy.” Zach Rasile motioned for the fans to get louder and the scuffle began. Zupko and Stull confronted the Blue Devils outside the locker room.
“When an administration allows a student body to chant at a kid as he walks by at the end of the game and does nothing, and the kid simply waves his arms and they’re screaming at our player, it’s wrong,” Jeff Rasile said. “It’s wrong. They’re still standing out there in the stands. Clear ‘em out.
“It’s not us. This is us walking to our locker room and they allowed that to happen. Shame on them.”
Hughes chalked it up to the naturally heated rivalry.
“The two schools are literally 21/2 miles apart,” Hughes said. “We’re trying to put our program in place to compete with them on consistent basis. When you do that, you’re gonna have a little bit of emotions. And to be honest with you, I think that’s what excites a basketball player.”
McDonald superintendent Kevin O’Connell and Mineral Ridge athletic director Tim Porter both declined to comment on the altercation. O’Connell said any comments made would take away from the game.