Boys Basketball
Scioto wary of threat from surging Jackets

Thursday, February 2= 1, 2008

SCOTT GERFEN<= /b>
Villager Contributor=

At a glanceBelow are the recent results and coming schedule for the Sci= oto boys basketball team:

Last Saturday -- Defeated Westland 64-49 in second round of Division I district tournament. Second-seeded Scioto, which had a first-r= ound bye, opened the fourth quarter on a 9-0 run. Bradley McDougald scored 23 points.

Saturday -- At Fairgrounds Coliseum vs. Mount Vernon in dist= rict semifinal (4:15 p.m.). The two teams have met 14 times in the last 13 seasons, with Scioto holding a 9-5 lead in the series. The winner will advance to a district final March 1 at the Fairgrounds.

Of note: The Irish are 20-1.

The Dublin Scioto High School boys basketball team enters its Division I district semifinal Saturday in the Fairgrounds Coliseum armed with plenty of information.
Having faced its opponent, Mount Vernon, 14 times in the last = 13 seasons, the second-seeded Irish expect a battle that suits a matchup betwe= en two programs which know each other all too well.

"They always give us a good game and they have a great coach," said senior Bradley McDougald, who scored 23 points in last Saturday's 64-49 victory over Westland in the seco= nd round. "It's kind of turned into a rivalry over the years. They're gym= is loud and it's always a tough place to play."

Scioto's undefeated run a year ago ended on the road at Mount Vernon in a 54-52 defeat. Although his team evened the score with a 60-48 victory Jan. 4, coach Tony = Bisutti expects to face a team much different than the one which had just three victories when they last met.

The Yellow Jackets upset OCC-Buckeye Division champion Reynold= sburg 60-57 in the opening round game Feb. 13, then knocked off Marysville 58-44 = in the second round last Saturday at Centerburg to improve to 7-15.

"They're in the district semifinals and they beat a team = that had 13 wins in Reynoldsburg to get there," said B= isutti, whose team is 20-1. "I think our guys are smart about that and they respect everyone. (Mount Vernon) is just going to play really, really hard = and that makes them as dangerous as anybody."

Most dangerous is guard Ben Severns, who has scored at least 20 points in eight games.

"He's as good a shooter as any in the district and he has range probably up to 25 feet," Bisutti sai= d. "He's gotten pretty good off the dribble and locking him down with one= guy isn't easy. When teams have been able to do that, other guys have started to step up for them. We just need to adjust."

Scioto has been without its top shooter in senior guard Ben Ashwill, who injured an ankle in a 57-49 loss to fifth-seeded Brookhaven on Feb. 5. He remains questionable for Saturday's game, B= isutti said.

Senior Blair Gorniak, who is much-= needed at the defensive end, has seen limited playing time with a sore ankle.

= McDougald has been the offensive leader in Ashwill= 's absence, but there were many contributors last Saturday, including Kyle Dun= can, who hit three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter that helped Scioto pull out the victory after clinging to a 40-39 lead at the end of the third quarter.

"We kind of underestimated them, and they came out with a= lot of energy," McDougald said. "We talked about it at half time and what we needed to stop it. We came out and executed."

The Irish, who were ranked fifth in the final state poll, open= ed the fourth quarter with a 9-0 run.

Scioto had beaten the Cougars 77-44 on Dec. 18.

"I said after the first time we played them that their gu= ards we're the best tandem that we'd face all year," B= isutti said. "They had an up-and-down year, but you've got to look at the division (OCC-Ohio) they play in and there are some pretty good teams in th= ere. They threw us their best shot."