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Rasile’s 50 points lead Devils

Morning Journal photo / Michael S. Burich — McDonald’s Ziad Aziz, right, drives as Southern’s Bradley Sloan defends.

STRUTHERS — Once again, the McDonald Blue Devils are Division IV District basketball champions.

The Devils defeated Southern Local, 72-59, on Friday at Struthers Fieldhouse, giving both McDonald’s boys and girls teams a district title in 2020.

Even though feeling a bit under the weather, an ecstatic McDonald coach Jeff Rasile was smiling from ear to ear after the victory.

“I think this is our sixth district title here at McDonald,” Jeff Rasile said. “It’s special. Now, we need to get well. I’m sick. Everybody is sick.

“We didn’t know what would happen with our team this year. If we won 15 games, it would be a great year for us. Here we are with 22 or 23 wins now. It’s six guys busting their butts. These guys play for each other.”

Morning Journal photo / Michael S. Burich — McDonald’s Zach Rasile looks for an opening Friday night against Southern Local.

The Blue Devils (22-3) didn’t show any signs of the common cold early on as they built a 17-7 lead after one quarter. Senior Parker Higgins pulled down four rebounds, and had a great assist to Jake Portolese, who hit a jumper.

Portolese scored 10 of his 12 points, including a pair of buckets from downtown, by halftime. It helped McDonald take a 36-16 lead at the break. His teammate, senior Zach Rasile, had a big hand in giving the Blue Devils a 20-point advantage.

Rasile got off to somewhat of a rocky start when he was firing away from 3-point territory and missing deep looks. However, he found other ways to contribute, and dished a no-look pass to Eli Street. Rasile scored down low. He had a steal, and a lay-up, on his way to scoring 22 first-half points.

Rasile finished with 50 points, giving him 2,992 for his career. He is now the second all-time leading scorer in Ohio high school basketball history. Even with accomplishments such as passing LeBron James on the scoring list, and breaking 3-point records as a freshman on his resume, this district championship means more than the rest of the trophies to him.

“This one feels the best,” Rasile said. ” It got a little close at the end. The free throws helped. I’m really happy with the result. We won a district title my freshman year, but obviously that really wasn’t my team. I felt like this was more of my team, and it’s a great feeling. I couldn’t break any records without my teammates. I can’t thank them enough.”

Senior Ziad Aziz grabbed a board, and had a block from behind, helping McDonald take a 48-29 lead to the fourth quarter.

Rasile started the fourth with a pretty up-and-under finger roll, but Southern Local cut into the lead and made things interesting. After a couple of 3-point shots, the Devils were up just, 63-56, with 1:40 left to play. McDonald was having a rough time breaking the defensive press. Luckily, Dominic Carkido had a huge rebound and completed an and-one. Rasile sealed the championship at the line, going 14 of 14 in the closing minutes.

Tuesday, McDonald plays Lucas in a Division IV Canton Regional semifinal, starting at 8 p.m., at the Canton Memorial Fieldhouse.

“It was disappointing, the last two years, not winning this championship,” coach Rasile said. “We didn’t give ourselves a chance because we lost in the semifinals both times, but it’s all worth it after tonight. These guys just want to win. Lets get ready for Tuesday night.”

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