Staff photo / Brian Yauger McDonald senior Brenden Emerick (0) goes up for a layup while being defended by Lowellville’s Drew Modelski during Tuesday’s game at McDonald High School.

McDONALD — Tuesday’s tilt between McDonald and Lowellville was one that both needed. The Rockets proved that they could hang with the big dogs of the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference, and McDonald proved it can take a punch.

The Blue Devils clawed themselves out of multiple deficits late in the game to remain undefeated in a 53-48 victory over the Rockets.

“Hats off to them, hats off to (Lowellville coach Tony) Matisi. I mean, that’s the toughest game by far in our first seven that we’ve played, but our guys are resilient. To be down six and then four with a minute and a half left and one timeout, to execute there and get a steal, it was really good on their end,” Blue Devils coach James Franceschelli said. “That’s by far not one of our best performances, but that’s kudos to them. They hit shots all night and they slowed it down and did the right things, but these guys are eager to get back to work.”

McDonald started the game in control, but over the course of the contest, fell victim to a ton of pressure coming from Lowellville.

The teams traded runs, led by a 17-point effort from Lowellville sophomore Jayden Coon and a game-high 26-point outing from McDonald’s Joey Cappuzzello.

Neither team truly wrestled momentum away. But it was the Blue Devils who had the last laugh.

Drew Zajack hit a 3-pointer to give McDonald a 51-48 lead with just under a minute left. It became a mad scramble for the Rockets to tie the game, but McDonald stayed strong and held onto its lead.

“Drew battles all night. He really does,” Franceschelli said. “He’s one of our three captains and a four-year starter, so when that shot goes up, you expect that to go in, you really do. He’s an unbelievable player, and we’re thankful he’s on our side. Believe me.”

Zajack is one of a handful of players who spent the fall playing football. With the football Blue Devils playing so late into the season, the basketball Blue Devils were shorthanded throughout much of the preseason.

It hasn’t slowed them down, however, as McDonald sits at 7-0 and 6-0 in league play.

Franceschelli expected a game like this with everything that’s happened so far this season. He’s happy they walked off the court with a win.

“These kids are so resilient. We had one week of practice with everybody, and we started playing, so to rattle off seven wins (is great,)” Franceschelli said. “We knew one of these games was coming. It was just a matter of when it was going to happen and how we were going to respond to it. I can’t say enough about Coach Matisi and what they did tonight to give that effort and for us to pull that out.”

Lowellville falls to 3-4 and 2-4 in league play, but the Rockets are anything but discouraged after the loss.

After a rough start to the season, Lowellville is starting to see the pieces come together.

“We’re finally figuring things out,” Matisi said. “I know it’s a month in, but we’re finally figuring things out, starting to develop roles, starting to know our roles better. We’ll get there. We want to be going on all cylinders in the next two, three weeks. We’ve got some young kids we’re bringing in, and they’re playing well. … We want to win. We want to be competitive. We want to win every game. The league’s tough, but we want to get there and we want to be competitive. We don’t want to walk in the gym and the other team is thinking ‘Oh, we’re playing Lowellville.’ We want to be thinking ‘Oh no, we’re playing Lowellville.'”

The next step is closing games out.

“We want our young kids to learn about that last minute and a half,” Matisi said. “Hopefully what happened tonight will help us down the line and we’ll get better at that and better at seeing pressure.”

After the Christmas break, the Rockets play host to Sebring. McDonald welcomes Girard on Saturday.