Benchmark game for Rathway helps BV beat McGuffey
McGuffey’s Colin Chapman goes for a layup against Belle Vernon’s Joe Sabolek during Friday night’s Section 3-AAAA game at McGuffey High School.
Belle Vernon’s Tommy Rodriguez grabs a rebound during the first quarter of Friday night’s game against McGuffey.
Katie Roupe/Observer-Reporter Belle Vernon’ss coach Kyle DeGregorio argues with an official during the first half against McGuffey.
CLAYSVILLE – Jake Rathway usually starts the game on the bench but that doesn’t mean he plays only a few meaningless minutes each game for Belle Vernon High School’s basketball team.
Veteran Belle Vernon coach Kyle DeGregorio likes to utilize 10 players and spread the minutes evenly.
In the Leopards’ game Friday night at McGuffey, Rathway again started on the bench but had to log more minutes on the court than usual. Belle Vernon was without Brennan Morgan – Rathway’s cousin – which meant more playing time for the latter.
Because of Rathway’s relief performance, Belle Vernon is alone atop the Section 3-AAAA standings today.
Rathway scored 12 points – all on three-point field goals – Griffin LaCarte forced a pivotal turnover in the closing seconds and Belle Vernon edged McGuffey 57-53 before a large and vocal crowd at the Highlanders’ gymnasium.
Belle Vernon, which has won 12 of its last 13 games, improves to 10-2 in the section and 15-4 overall. McGuffey, which was playing front of its largest home crowd in about a half-dozen years, falls into a second-place tie with South Fayette at 9-3 in the section. The Highlanders, who are 16-4 overall, host South Fayette Tuesday night.
“It was neat that without Brennan we kept the minutes in the family,” DeGregorio said. “Jake had to pick up those minutes. He was ridiculous tonight. He’s the littlest guy on the team, probably 5-foot-6 if he’s standing on a phone book, and only averages three points a game. But he stepped up and hit some big shots.”
None was bigger than a three-pointer 57 seconds into the fourth quarter that ended a McGuffey run. The Highlanders scored the final nine points of the third quarter to cut an 11-point Belle Vernon lead to 43-41.
Rathway’s three-pointer to start the fourth quarter ended a scoreless drought of 5:41 for the Leopards and pushed their lead to 46-41.
Rathway made three shots from behind the arc in the first half as Belle Vernon took a 35-25 lead into the intermission.
“Really, we can’t shoot,” DeGregorio said. “We can’t make free throws, we can’t make shots, period. There was a stretch in this game when we couldn’t make a shot and McGuffey came back.”
Belle Vernon led by as many as seven points in the fourth quarter before McGuffey made one final surge behind Trent Belleville, who had games highs of 19 points and 11 rebounds, and freshman C.J. Cole. A three-pointer by Cole and a driving and spinning layup by Belleville pulled McGuffey to within 54-53 with 12 seconds left.
Instead of waiting to be fouled, Belle Vernon’s Tommy Rodriguez missed a three-point shot but LeCarte grabbed the important rebound and was fouled. He made one free throw to make it a two-point game but missed the second attempt. McGuffey’s Colin Chapman rebounded the missed free throw, but before he could get off a desperation last-second shot LaCarte forced a turnover and Rodriguez sank two free throws with less than one second remaining.
“I’m proud of our effort,” McGuffey coach Mike Fatigante said. “We had chances. We just didn’t make the most of them. We missed some shots and committed some turnovers at crucial times. My hat’s off to Belle Vernon but our guys will come back.”
Fatigante wasn’t happy with his team’s defense in the first half, when Belle Vernon shot 51 percent. In the second half, the Leopards shot 30 percent and made only three field goals in the final 12:44.
“Playing better defense got us back in the game,” Fatigante said.
It also helped having Belleville on the court for the entire second half. He scored 11 first-half points before drawing his second foul with 5:06 left in the first half and Belle Vernon leading 25-18. he went to the bench for the remainder of the half.
Belle Vernon didn’t have an answer for Belleville but the Leopards did enough against McGuffey’s Colin Chapman in the second half to stay in the lead. Chapman scored nine of his 13 points in the first half and had only one field goal in the second half.
“We adjusted out defense in the second half because we didn’t want to leave Chapman with room to drive,” DeGregorio explained. “We stopped trapping because of that.”
With six minutes left and Belle Vernon leading 49-43, the Leopards decided to hold the ball and spread out McGuffey’s defense. The Leopards then converted enough times at the free-throw line to win, making six of nine attempts. For the game, Belle Vernon was 9-for-17 at the free-throw line.
“We wanted to cut down the number of possessions,” DeGregorio said. “McGuffey is not the most talented team, but they play smartly, they play hard and they’re well-coached.”
Joe Sabolek had 12 points and nine rebounds for Belle Vernon and Rodrgiez finished with 10 points.
Cole, who played in the junior varsity game, finished with 15 points over the final three quarters.
“We play a lot of close games,” said Fatigante, whose team lost for only the third time in 11 games decided by single digits. “You could say close games are our forte. We just didn’t make enough shots this time.”