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WEIRTON -- Spring sports have started in Ohio, as the temperature outside has begun to heat up. Meanwhile in West Virginia, things have started to heat up inside on the hardwood, as basketball season approaches crunch time.
The Madonna boys basketball team led by three in the fourth quarter, but Cameron ended the game on a huge run to pull away for a 53-45 victory to spoil the Blue Dons’ senior night on Saturday inside the Dube Dome.
“We lack mental toughness and basketball 101,” Madonna (3-7) head coach George Vargo said. “We don’t have mental toughness and basketball 101 sense. Because of that, we have lost five games in the last two minutes. We are just not mentally tough, and we lack basketball 101. They have everything else -- hustle, desire, good attitudes and effort.
“None of our kids play AAU ball. They don’t play 30-40 games in the summer. They don’t go to Columbus or Cleveland or Huggins’s Camp. I don’t know how many transition points if we haven’t connected on. Our kids are good kids. I am just being real with them, and I am being real with you. It’s not that they don’t hustle or give a good effort; it is just they don’t understand the clock and they don’t understand clock management.”
The game was tied at 36-36 entering the fourth.
Two free throws gave the Blue Dons the lead, but the Dragons scored a couple of baskets in a row to take a 43-40 lead, forcing Madonna to call a timeout with 2:28 remaining in the game. The Dragons went up 47-42. The Blue Dons made it 47-45, but a potential game-tying layup rolled off the rim. Cameron scored the final six points to seal the deal and secure the victory, ending on a 16-5 run overall.
Three players reached double digits in points for the Blue Dons. Santino Arlia contributed a team-high 12 points, while Thomas Sessi and Matt Amaismeier each scored 10.
Trevor Beresford tallied a game-high 17 points to lead the way for Cameron, while Connor Powell produced eight points.
“They didn’t do anything unexpected,” Vargo said. “They have got a weapon most teams around here don’t have. They have a kid who is 6-7 or 6-8. He is a nice player. He finishes in the paint. They have got good kids. They are playing good basketball.”
The Dragons took the lead early on, but the Blue Dons battled back and took a 20-19 lead at the end of the first.
Madonna led 27-25 at halftime.
The visitors outscored the hosts, 11-9, in the third to tie the score heading into the fourth.
Prior to the start of the game, Madonna honored its two seniors in Lucky Pulice and Sessi.
The loss was the third straight for the Blue Dons.
The Blue Dons are looking to get back on track this week, as Madonna tentatively is scheduled to host Paden City Tuesday night at home in the second game of a girls and boys doubleheader. The girls game is scheduled to start at 6 p.m.
Cameron is slated to play Clay-Battelle Tuesday night on the road.
Cameron 53, Madonna 45
Cameron 19 6 11 17 -- 53
Madonna 20 7 9 9 -- 45
CAMERON (6-3): L. Burkett 1 0-0 3, Powell 2 4-4 8, C. Burkett 2 0-0 4, Wichterman 0 5-10 5, Hartley 2 0-0 4, Beresford 8 1-3 17, Howard 1 0-0 3, McCauley 0 0-0 0, Day 4 1-1 9. TOTALS: 20, 11-18: 53.
MADONNA (3-7): L. Amaismeier 0 0-0 0, Mascio 0 0-0 0, Serafine 0 0-0 0, Sessi 3 3-4 10, Arlia 3 4-4 12, M. Amaismeier 4 0-1 10, Pulice 3 0-0 6, Bone 2 3-3 7, Yates 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 15, 10-12: 45.
3-POINTERS: Cameron 2 (L. Burkett, Howard); Madonna 5 (Arlia 2, M. Amaismeier 2, Sessi).