Boys Basketball
Irish survive Mount Vernon to reach final

Thursday, February 2= 8, 2008

SCOTT GERFEN<= /b>
Villager Contributor=

Eric Stamets (left) and Bradley McDougald congratulate each other last Saturday after the Irish defeated Mount Vern= on 55-52 in overtime in a Division I district semifinal.

Over the past three weeks, members of the Dublin Scioto High School boys basketball team have reminded themselves about what could have been.

After falling to fifth-seeded Brookhaven 57-49 in a regular-se= ason game Feb. 5, the second-seeded Irish realized they could get another shot at the team that spoiled their run at a perfect regular season.

That opportunity comes at 12:30 p.m. Saturday in the Fairgroun= ds Coliseum in a Division I district final, a game Scioto has been eager to pl= ay even before its 55-52 victory over Mount Vernon in overtime last Saturday i= n a district semifinal.

"I've had to kind of tone them down a little bit on it,&q= uot; said coach Tony Bisutti, whose team improved to 21-1. "You heard them = talk about it in sidebar conversations. Brookhaven is probably kicking their hee= ls right now. We'll either figure it out or we won't. You're not going to out-= fox anybody at this point."

What the Irish didn't figure out in the first meeting was the Bearcats' zone defense which, combined with Scioto's miserable shooting, he= ld the Irish to two points in the third quarter.

"They're really long and they're really athletic when they drop back in that zone," said senior guard Ben Ashwill, who has played limited minutes since injuring a foot during the Brookhaven game. "We'= ve just got to hit our shots. We didn't hit our shots last game. We just can't= be passive at the offensive end."

The defensive plan will focus on 6-foot-5 senior Chris Johnson, who scored 16 of his 21 points in the second half of last Saturday's 46-36 victory over fourth-seeded Hilliard Darby. He was 9-for-12 from the field a= nd had nine rebounds.

Darby coach Brett Norris thought he had the perfect plan to ke= ep the ball away from Johnson by packing his defenders close to the basket and making Brookhaven, which improved to 19-3, shoot from the outside. The Pant= hers had a 28-26 lead midway through the third quarter, but Johnson eventually t= ook over.

Scioto expects it again will have to be on target from the out= side against Brookhaven.

"That seems to be where their defense has kind of evolved," Bisutti said. "They're still going to play (man-to-man), but it seems like when their big guys get a couple of fouls they'll go to (a zone) and try to protect those guys."

The winner will play Thomas Worthington or Westerville South i= n a regional semifinal March 6.

A motivated Mount Vernon had little trouble attacking the Irish defense by hitting all but four of its shots in the first half to take a 28= -25 lead.

"We didn't get many rebounds and they hit every shot they took," Blair Gorniak said.

Scioto took the lead with a 10-2 run in the fourth quarter, but Yellow Jackets guard Ben Severns hit a 3-pointer from well beyond the arc w= ith 1:13 left to send the game to overtime.

The Irish escaped the upset in the final seconds of overtime w= hen Severns was stripped of the ball while attempting to take another long 3-po= int shot. Severns appeared to be fouled by Gorniak and Ashwill, who were double-teaming him.

Scioto had two fouls to give.

"Was it a foul?" Bisutti said. "What was a foul= in that game? It was very physical. We knew how quick his release is so we told the kids to foul him only if he puts it on the deck. I think it just shook = out the way it was going to shake out."