Madonna's season comes to an end

CHARLESTON - Madonna's basketball season came to an end with Friday's 70-46 semifinal loss to Charleston Catholic in the West Virginia Class A State Boys Basketball Tournament at the Charleston Civic Center.

The Irish will take on St. Marys today at 2:30 p.m. for the championship.

"I think you're going to see a game that Charleston played today - a very good defensive game, a very deliberate offensive game," Madonna coach George Vargo said about the title game. "I think Mark Barnhart is going to bring his St. Marys team that has speed, quickness, and a good inside game.

"If officials call the game like they did today, you're going to see a game like you did today - for somebody."

Charleston Catholic finished the game on a 45-14 run to end Madonna's season.

The Irish shot the ball better than the Blue Dons, going 19 for 39 from the floor. Madonna was 14 for 48.

Charleston Catholic won the rebounding battle, 33-32. Madonna turned the ball over 18 times, compared to 11 for the Irish.

"Charleston Catholic played excellent basketball today," said Vargo. "They are a very good team and are here for a reason. Their guard played solid basketball and they did a good job inside, too. They were very patient on offense and we knew they were going to be.

"Coach McClanahan does a wonderful job with this program. I would expect them to be down here a lot."

The Blue Dons' Clay Rokisky led his squad with 15 points and eight rebounds.

"Charleston Catholic did a really good job of closing in on the paint," said Rokisky. "I wasn't able to hit my outside shots so I had to go inside and they did a great job collapsing."

Rokisky hit a jumper and a three for a 32-25 Madonna lead with 6:26 left in the third quarter.

"Let's be honest, that young man is as good a single A athlete as we have seen, if not the best basketball single A athlete that we've seen on any team we've played or any team we've scouted," Irish head coach Bill McClanahan said of Rokis! ky. "Tha t young man is legitimate. Once (Drazen) Frankovitch was out, we knew any inside presence they had was with Rokisky. We tried to limit his touches. The kid stepped out and his some nice threes.

"We wanted to make sure we had somebody with him and be aware of where he was everywhere he went. We didn't want him and (Ross) Comis to get off on the outside and you have to control (Nick) Battista, he makes them go. We had a game plan."

"He's a heck of an athlete," Irish forward Nick George said of Rokisky. "He's the best person I've had to guard throughout the season. He's a great combination of size and he has great footwork. I was supposed to front him and I tried to. But, he was so good at getting around it, I just tried to deny him the ball. He was going to get his shots and he was going to make a lot of them. So, I was just trying to deny him the ball to the best of my ability."

The Irish ended the quarter on a 14-5 run for a 39-37 lead.

Madonna's Connor Mogan had a tip-in to make it 41-39 Irish. It went to 44-39 when Haston Gerencir canned a three. Frankovitch, who was in foul trouble the whole game, hit 1 of 2 from the line for a 44-40 score with 6:46 left in the game.

Charleston Catholic went on a 19-0 run in the next 4:58, 12 coming from the line.

"They are a good basketball team, make no mistake. They are an excellent single A basketball team," McClanahan said of Madonna. "I think the big thing we did is we wanted to control inside the three-point line. We knew they could hit some threes, but their strength with Rokisky and Frankovitch and Battista penetrating, we knew that they really got a lot off two things - transition, which I think we did an excellent job of, and controlling and penetrating the paint and then dishing off.

"Our effort was to try to play compact, to try to force them to shoot outside shots. And then, conversely, when we got the basketball, once we had the lead, we wanted to spread them out and make them guard us on the basketball because,! obvious ly we felt with Frankovitch guarding somebody on the perimeter, it was to our advantage."

Gerencir finished with a game-high 28 points on 11 of 15 shooting (4 of 6 from behind the arc).

"He's very quick, so we had to give him a step," Comis said. "The other guys are quick and sometimes you need to help off and he was getting open shots. I felt that when we were in his face, he had a tough time making them. He's a good player. He had a good game."

Madonna's season ended at 23-4.

"Now, did Charleston Catholic play great today? Yeah, Charleston Catholic played great," Vargo said in the post-game press conference.

"Charleston Catholic also scored 26 points from the foul line. If any of you guys understand coaching and the tempo of a game, you can't play a basketball game when officials blow the whistle every five seconds. You can't win a basketball game when the officials don't let the kids play. You can't win a basketball game in a state tournament with this kind of officiating from the foul line. It's totally absurd."

The Blue Dons were whistled for 21 fouls, including an intentional foul, in the second half. The Irish were called for four fouls.

"I see a stat sheet that shows one team shoot 38 foul shots," said Vargo, who has been in the business for 25 years. "I see the game being a great basketball game until (the referees) got involved. It was a great basketball game until some other people got involved. And, that's a shame that you have to come to a state tournament game and take a game away from kids at the foul line. That's a rotten shame.

"One of my kids got kicked in the head - three officials out there and don't see it. I see an intentional foul because one of their players goes into the padding. That was not an intentional foul. That was not an intentional foul.

"We got very, very cold in the fourth. But, once again, how do have a rhythm when there's 39 fouls called? How do have a rhythm when every time you turn around one of my players gets ! called f or a foul. How do have a rhythm? How do you have a rhythm?

"Maybe it's about time somebody like me sticks up and stands up for my team in the state tournament. Maybe it's about time that somebody questions the responsibility of officiating at state tournament time. This ain't a little Termite game that you call fouls on every little kid so you protect them from getting hurt. Nobody was getting hurt out there. It was a good, solid high school basketball game. And, unfortunately, (the referees) did a bad job officiating tonight."

Charleston Catholic was 26 for 38 from the foul line (22 for 32 in the second half), Madonna 11 for 16 (4 for 6 in the second half).

"My biggest thought is, and I'm not going to make any excuses for coach Vargo, he doesn't need me to, but I know that when you expend all of the physical and emotional energy, both as a player and as a coach, and, believe me, I probably have as much experience as anybody of coming up just a little bit short in some of these games, that your nerves are raw and you are just very defensive about what just happened," said McClanahan. "I've been there and it is difficult, if not impossible, sometimes to contain those emotions and be tactful with them.

"Sometimes that nerve is just so exposed that it comes out. I'm sure he spoke what was on his mind.

"I'm not defending it. I'm not criticizing it. I'm just saying I am keenly aware of how that can happen."