WATERLOO SNEAKS OUT OF MCDONALD WITH FIRST PLACE IN TACT
By Matt Maher
MCDONALD, OH – Another Friday night, another great matchup between two Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference teams! This time around McDonald hosted Waterloo and these two fierce competitors showed strong defense and great free throw shooting in a tight 37-33 game that went to Waterloo in the final seconds.
The first quarter was close for the majority of play but Waterloo, with the help of some fouls, started to run away as the quarter ended 15-9 in favor of the visitors. Drew Zajack led his team in scoring with 5 points while Wyatt Wilford scored the first 2 points and found 2 more from the line. Gage Hawley was an impressive rebounder for the Vikings and found 5 points to start off his night including going a perfect 2-for-2 but the real star of the free throw line was Jackson Eichler who found 5 of his 7 points from the line going a perfect 5-for-5.
Waterloo found more scoring from the field in the 2nd while McDonald struggled to find any room in the crowded offensive zone. The quarter would go to Waterloo 13-8. Zajack found 4 more points in the paint while Joey Cappuzzello and Wilford both scored 2 points. Eichler continued to lead his team with 5 more points including a 3 and Kyle Werbeck and Hawley both found points beyond the arc.
McDonald was disappointed with their first half efforts and came out with a strong response in the third, scoring 12 points and only allowing Waterloo 3. 2 of Waterloo’s points came from Drew Flarida who put up a contested jumper while Eichler found 1-of-2 from the line. Casey Miller found some energy and mustered 5 points starting off with a huge 3. Wilford found 4 points while Brady Klockner found his first 3 of the night.
Both teams locked down their defense in the 4th quarter and after McDonald got so close in the 3rd, Waterloo needed this quarter to go the way it did with them scoring 5-4 and capping off the night their way. Miller went 1-for-2 from the stripe while Zajack hit a game tying 3 but that tie would not last for too long as Waterloo was able to draw 3 different fouls in this frame with the last one on Hawley being the nail in the coffin, The Vikings went 5-for-5 from the line with 4 coming from Eichler and the other two from Hawley.
The free throws were landing for Waterloo and their precise shooting was ultimately what won this game for them and kept them neck and neck with Springfield for 1st place as they went 14-15 as a team. McDonald can’t be underestimated because they have proved all season they can compete against the big dogs of this conference and tonight was no different. Waterloo (13-4, 10-2) have the biggest game of the season on tap when they host Springfield on February 6th at 7:00PM (that game is scheduled to be on YSN) and McDonald (9-9, 6-5) will host Jackson-Milton on the 6th at 7:00PM.
