Dublin Scioto 62, Westerville South= 48

Boys basketball: Stretch of well-executed play helps Scioto post impressive victory

Saturday,&n= bsp; December 13, 2008 3:07 AM

By Steve Blackledge

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

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NEAL C. LAURON | DISPATCH=

Westerville South's Jason Davis, who scored 17 points, tries to drive past Eric Stamets of Dubl= in Scioto.

For roughly 20 minutes last night, Dublin Scioto played as close to perfect basketball as one could exp= ect just two weeks into the season.

Never mind that the Irish squandered much of a 23-point lead in the final nine minutes before pulling= out a 62-48 victory over visiting Westerville South in the Ohio Capital Confere= nce Cardinal Division. Scioto's players showed themselves and coach Tony Bisutti what they're capable of when clicking on all cylinders.
"As a coach, things like that don't stick with me too much because I'm busy harping on the stuff we'= re doing wrong," Bisutti said with a satisfied grin. "Now that you mention it, though, that was a great stretch in the middle quarters we put together against a really good team."

During that fantastic stretch, Scioto (3-0, 2-0) passed the ball unselfishly and made excellent use of its depth and versatility to break down South (2-1, 1-1), which flashed intermittent flurries of breathtaking athleticism with periods of nagging inconsistency typical of a youthful team.

After falling behind 6-1, Sci= oto used a 16-2 run in the second quarter and a 12-2 burst in the third to hike= its lead to 44-21. Struggling to dent an active yet disciplined perimeter defen= se, South managed just nine points in 9 minutes.

"In that stretch, it felt like things just came really easy to us," Irish senior guard David McKinley said. "That just shows what happens when you play together, s= hare the ball and get a lot of people involved."

Senior guard Bradley McDougal= d, who had game highs of 18 points and five assists, said Scioto was committed= to finding and exploiting mismatches in the high and low post.

"When you look at their = team and you look at ours, you can see the difference in size and we were very patient and composed in making the extra pass to get open looks," he s= aid.

Scioto isn't necessarily tall, but it has five players between 6 feet 2 and 6-6 who are outstanding athlet= es and can beat opponents with strength or a quick first step to the basket.

"We've got more of a post presence this year than we did last year, and we've got good enough depth t= hat we can give you a big look or go with the smaller, quicker guys who can sho= ot threes," Bisutti said.

South coach Ed Calo said his = team simply couldn't match Scioto's toughness on either end of the floor.

"They did a very good job taking some shots away from us and taking us out of rhythm," he said. "They did whatever they wanted to do for a big stretch of the game. They've just got so many guys they can throw in there and there's no drop-o= ff at all. Scioto is an experienced, well-coached team."

Taking advantage of eight consecutive missed free throws by Scioto, the Wildcats -- buoyed by the late play of Jason Davis (17 points) -- chopped a 49-26 deficit to 51-46 with 3:= 14 remaining. Traevon Jackson added 14 points.

Irish senior Jamare Mills, however, made a putback to ignite a closing 11-2 run.

The victory helped Scioto -- = 22-2 last season -- avenge a 55-49 loss to South in a Division I regional semifi= nal March 6 in The Coliseum.