Basketball

Irish boys hope to learn from loss=

Wednesday, December 17, 20= 08 2:10 PM

By SCOTT GERFEN

ThisWeek Contributor =

3D"Scioto's

By Andrea Kjerrumgaard/ThisWeek<= o:p>

Scioto's Bradley McDougald jumps into the student section last Friday during the introduction of the starting lineup. The Irish defeated Westerville South 62-48 in the boys Hoop It Up G= ame of the Week at thisweeknews.com.

3D"http://thisweeknews.com/wwwexportcontent/sites/thisweeknews/images/2=

By Andrea Kjerrumgaard/ThisWeek<= o:p>

On the long bus ride home from Wooster last Sunday, Dublin Scioto High School boys basketball coach Tony Bisutti had plenty of time to think and discuss what went wrong.

Two days earlier, his team playe= d nearly perfect for about 20 minutes in a 62-48 victory over Westerville South. Aga= inst North Canton Hoover in the Steve Smith Classic at the College of Wooster, t= he Irish played just the opposite and trailed 31-16 at halftime before posting= a fourth-quarter rally that fell short in a 50-48 loss.

"It was the kind of stuff t= hat happens when you play with no desire in the first half," said Bisutti, whose team dropped to 3-1 overall. "They were just fundamentally better than us. We're just not there yet fundamentally. I think we have all the pa= rts, but we've got to improve in our skill areas."

The Irish, trailing 40-29 enteri= ng the fourth quarter, came back with four 3-pointers and took the lead 48-47 = with two free throws from Eric Stamets with about a minute to play.

Hoover's Tyler Fausnight scored = the winner at the buzzer, a one-handed putback that banked in as he went to the ground.

"Really, we've just got to = try to turn it into the proverbial positive and say here's where we need to get to," Bisutti said. "The thing I liked about it was the game had a tournament-feel to it and maybe that will pay off for us."<= /span>

It was the first loss for Scioto= in December in two seasons.

A year ago, the Irish opened wit= h 18 consecutive wins before falling to Brookhaven 57-49 on Feb. 5. They won 15 = in a row during the 2006-07 season.

Scioto's streak of 23 consecutive league victories is on the line Friday at OCC-Cardinal Division-rival Westerville North, which improved to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the league with last Friday's 85-77 victory over Westerville Central.

The Warriors return their top fo= ur scorers, with Ralph Hill leading the way.

The 6-foot-6 junior forward led = team in scoring (16.8 points), rebounding (8.5) and blocks (1.9) last year.=

Hill scored 22 against Central a= nd 5-10 junior Brad Nettles added 25.

The Irish, who are 2-0 in the OCC-Cardinal, also have a number of proven scorers and a rotation that appe= ars to be clicking no matter who's on the floor.

"We can all play with each other and I think we're good at sharing the ball," senior guard David McKinley said. "It doesn't really matter who's out there. Someone's usually got the hot hand and is producing for us."

Scioto was averaging 68.3 points before the loss to Hoover.

Against South, senior Bradley McDougald led four players in double figures with 18 points.

"We definitely had the shots falling for us, but they had their time, too," McDougald said. "We had to keep our edge and stay composed and as seniors I thought that we were able to do that."

The Irish held a 23-point lead in the fourth quarter before the Wildcats went on a 16-2 run and cut it to 51-= 46 with a little more than three minutes to play. Scioto missed eight free thr= ows during that stretch.

"You play somebody good and= they can exploit you," Bisutti said. "The little things for us just ar= en't there yet."

The Irish's Deji Olatoye grabs a rebound from South's Geron Tate.

At a glance

Below are the recent results and coming schedules for the Scioto boys and girls basketball teams:=

BOYS

*Dec. 9 -- Defeated Olentangy 73= -59. Bradley McDougald scored 19 points and Rainer Duzan had 17.

*Last Friday -- Def. Westerville South 62-48. McDougald led four players in double figures with 18 points.

Last Sunday -- Lost to North Can= ton Hoover 50-48. Tyler Fausnight's putback at the buzzer was the difference. Scioto had trailed 31-16 at halftime.

*Friday -- At Westerville North<= o:p>

*Tuesday -- At Westerville Centr= al

Of note: The Irish are 3-1 overa= ll and 2-0 in the OCC-Cardinal