Basketball

Physical defense leading Scioto

Wednesday,  February 4, 2009 12:14 PM

By SCOTT GERFEN

ThisWeek Contributor

Under coach Tony Bisutti, the Dublin Scioto High School boys basketball team has built a strong defense that helped the Irish win their first Division I district championship a year ago.

It hasn't been an aggressive style of defense this season, but a physical one which has been able to create havoc in the half-court.

"We're not quite there yet when it comes to our positioning, but we've been good at getting our hands on the ball and disrupting and deflecting passes," Bisutti said. "We can press, but it's not our forte."

Scioto was holding opponents to 43 points per game with an average 11 steals and 17.5 turnovers through 15 games. The Irish also were winning the rebounding battle by a margin of more than four per game.

It's a defense in which everybody knows their function.

"The best thing about this group is that we all get along with each other and share the ball," said Marco St. John, who had seven rebounds last Friday in a 51-34 victory over Westerville North. "Our defense is the best thing we've got going this year. All summer, we worked hard to get it ready for the season."

The Irish were second in the Division I area coaches poll last week behind Northland and is in good position to get one of the top seeds in the Division I district tournament draw Sunday. Before last Tuesday, Scioto had won 11 in a row after a 50-48 loss to North Canton Hoover on Dec. 14. Its streak in the OCC was 32 victories.

"As soon as we hit the court this (season), it was 95 percent defense before we worked in some offense," Bradley McDougald said. "We know that a good defense can lead to a good offense or vice-versa."

McDougald was leading the way offensively at 13.5 points per game. David McKinley was averaging 10.

But the Irish, who were averaging 58 points, have been far from a one-dimensional team when it comes to scoring. Four others were averaging between six and seven points.

McDougald helped keep the OCC streak alive when he made a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 4.3 seconds left in a 65-64 victory over visiting Olentangy on Jan. 23. McKinley finished with 24 points and Deji Oletoye had 18.

Rainer Duzan had 17 points in a 47-45 win at Westerville South on Jan. 27.

"We've had a lot of different things thrown at us this year," Bisutti said. "We've had physical adversities with injuries and we've had game adversities, but we've found a way except for once this season and it was at the buzzer."

Scioto closes the OCC-Cardinal Division schedule with games against Olentangy Liberty (Friday), Dublin Jerome (Feb. 13) and Marysville (Feb. 20).

The Irish dominated the first meeting with the Patriots 58-35 on Jan. 6 when Eric Stamets had 11 points and McDougald and St. John scored 10. Scioto held Liberty to single digits in every quarter but the fourth.

Scioto's only remaining non-league contest with Brookhaven has been moved to Feb. 18 because of a City League scheduling conflict. A year ago, the Bearcats ended Scioto's 18-game winning streak with a 57-48 victory, but the Irish got revenge with a 61-44 win in a district final.

At a glance

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

BOYS

*Jan. 27 -- Defeated Westerville South 47-45. Rainer Duzan scored 11 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter and made five of six free throws.

*Last Friday -- Def. Westerville North 51-34. Bradley McDougald scored 15 points and Marco St. John had seven rebounds.

*Last Tuesday -- Played Westerville Central

*Friday -- At Olentangy Liberty. Scioto won 58-35 on Jan. 6.

Of note: The Irish were 14-1 overall and 10-0 in the OCC-Cardinal before last Tuesday.