SCIOTO GARNERS FIRST EVER DISTRICT CHAMPIONSHIP!!

Dublin Scioto claimed the schools' first ever District Championship with a superb effort in defeating Brookhaven by the score of 61-44. The Irish avenged their only loss of the season and improved their season record to 22-1.

In a game that can best be described as a "Total Team Effort" the Irish had a number of players who came up big in various ways. The challenge was even greater than expected when the Irish's leading scorer Bradley McDougald got his 2d foul 2 minutes into the game, and played only about 10 minutes on the night. In a game the Irish were looking forward to for some time, they came out playing "Irish" basketball all the way by displaying great teamwork and solid defense throughout the game.

The Irish quickly fell behind 9-4 before the closing out the 1st quarter on an 8-0 run to lead 12-9 after one. The 2d quarter was also nip and tuck and ended with Brookhaven burying a well-defended 3-pointer at the buzzer to end the half with the Irish leading 23-22. The Irish opened up the gap a little in the 3d quarter, and led 33-26 heading into the 4th. The Irish knew they had Brookhaven on the brink of defeat entering the 4th quarter, and the Irish put together an oustanding quarter to pull away for the 61-44 victory.

As stated earlier this was a "Team" win without a doubt, similar to many of the Irish games throughout the year. David McKinley led the 1st half scoring with 7 points, including 5 in the first quarter. He finished with 10 on the night. He also had some nice penetration and passes. Kyle Duncan knocked down a big three pointer in the 1st quarter and finished with 11 points. Blair Gorniak contributed 6 points, but his contributions on defense in defending District Player of the Year Chris Johnson and Craig Sealy was superb. Marco St John had a number of strong offensive moves to the basket and finished with a team high 15 points. He too stood out defensively defending Chris Johnson and Craig Sealy at various times throughout the game. DJ Olatoye contributed 5 big points, and also did a great job on defense covering Johnson and Sealy at various times throughout the game. Ben Ashwill scored the first 8 points of the 4th quarter for the Irish as they pulled away, had 10 total in the quarter and 12 for the game. Ben also had a number of assists and a couple of pure effort plays in getting to the floor and gaining possession of 2 loose balls for the Irish. Rainer Duzan and Bradley McDougald also played excellent defense.

The Irish will be back in action on Thursday March 6th at the Fairgrounds at 7:00 PM against Westerville South.