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WEIRTON -- Basketball is a game of runs.
That was once again the case Saturday afternoon as the second half between Madonna and Frontier proved to be quite eventful.
The Blue Dons led by 15 at halftime only to see the Cougars battle back and pull within five points at the the end of the third, however, the fourth quarter belonged to the Blue Dons as they pulled away for a 68-57 victory inside the Dube Dome.
"We came out of the chute in the first game, and I did not know what to expect," Madonna (1-0) head coach George Vargo said. "I did not know what to expect out of this team. I knew we had muscle. I knew we had speed.
"Everything just clicked. Defensively, we did what we had to do. Offensively, we did what we had to do. Everything clicked. Everything went right today."
The hosts saw their 36-21 lead at halftime trimmed down to 51-46 entering the fourth, however, the boys in bounced back and built a 66-52 lead in the final quarter on their way to winning the game by 11.
"Frontier is a power in the OVAC," Vargo said. "Roger (Kirkpatrick) does a great job. This is our first time playing them in many, many years. I'm happy we were able to play him."
The loss dropped the Cougars to 0-4 on the season.
Anthony Mascio scored a game-high 24 points to lead the way for Madonna, while Santo DoBraska and Chase Littleton each collected 13 points.
"We had a nice scoring game," Vargo said. "Anthony is our key guy. When he scores, we do well. It takes the whole team to win. Chase did a good job getting rebounds. I don't know how many rebounds he had."
Tice Curtis tallied 19 points to lead the way for the boys from Washington County, while Lucas Cox recorded 16.
Curtis drained three 3-pointers in the third quarter as he scored 11 of the visitors 25 points in the quarter.
"That's basketball," Vargo said about Frontier's big third quarter. "They hit some 3-pointers. You can never score enough points in basketball. You can never have enough points, but we kept our composure. We kept our poise. We played with confidence, and the result was we came out with a win."
Two foul shots by the boys in blue made the score 56-50 in the fourth, however, the victors ripped off a 10-2 run to take a commanding 14-point advantage.
"We hit a couple of shots," Vargo said about his team's surge. "Mascio got hot. Two or three plays made the difference. The lead went from six to 12 just like that."
Madonna led 18-12 at the end of the first.
"They used a full-court press," Vargo said. "They used a man press. They played zone. They kept us off-balance. At times, we did not run a good half-court offense. They kept us off-balance."
Madonna was ready for everything Frontier threw its way.
"I know Roger, and Rogers knows me," Vargo said. "He has coached for 25 years, and I have coached for 25 years. We know each other. I know his style of play.
"I appreciate them coming up and playing us. It is hard to find games. They came up two hours to play us. I applaud for them."
Madonna is scheduled to play Trinity Christian Wednesday night on the road. The JV game is set to start at 6 p.m.
Frontier is slated to play Beallsville Saturday night at home.
The Madonna girls were scheduled to play Wellsville Saturday afternoon at home, however, the game was postponed due to the Tigers not having enough players to play.
Madonna 68, Frontier 57
Frontier 12 9 25 11 – 57
Madonna 18 18 15 17 – 68
FRONTIER (0-4): Powell 0 3-4 3, Cox 7 2-4 16, Curtis 7 1-3 19, Snyder 4 0-1 8, King 2 7-8 11, Kirkpatrick 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 20 13-20 57.
MADONNA (1-0): Amaismeier 2 0-0 6, Mascio 10 2-2 24, McFarland 1 0-0 2, DoBraska 3 7-9 13, Grishkevich 0 0-0 0, Muzzi 3 1-2 7, Gontas 1 1-2 3, Littleton 6 1-2 13, McAllister 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 26 7-12 68.
3-POINTERS: Frontier 4 (Curtis 4); Madonna 4 (Amaismeier 2, Mascio 2)