McDONALD — The McDonald Blue Devils’ football team made it all the way to the state semifinals before losing a game, and the basketball team has picked up right where they left off.

They entered their “Border War” rivalry game at home against Mineral Ridge on Tuesday with an undefeated record, and the Devils managed to keep their record (9-0) unblemished by escaping with a 47-44 victory.

“We gutted that one out,” McDonald coach James Franceschelli said. “We really did. Credit to their coaching staff. They had a great game plan. They slowed it down. We knew that was going to happen.

“This is one of the best rivalries around here. There’s no doubt about it. We knew we were going to get their best shot tonight. This is what high school basketball is all about. These communities are unbelievable for coming out and supporting us like they do.”

And, the fans were treated to another classic between the two schools. The Rams (7-3) led the entire way until the Devils grabbed their first lead of the contest with 2 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

McDonald senior Drew Zajack (team-high 14 points) nailed back-to-back shots from behind the arc to give the Devils a 43-42 advantage.

However, the intensity was far from over as the game came down to three 3-point attempts from Mineral Ridge, in the final seven seconds, in an attempt to send the game to overtime.

Unfortunately, for the Rams, none of the shots fell. In fact, the last attempt rattled around the rim as the buzzer sounded for the end of the game.

“I hurt for my kids because we’re not finishing the fourth quarters every time we play them,” said Mineral Ridge coach Marcus Higgs. “This is my second year as the coach, and we’ve lost to McDonald all three times even though we’ve been ahead most of the game.

“For some reason, we just can’t finish down the stretch. Now, give McDonald credit because they hit big shots that they were missing earlier. When it came down to the closing minutes, they made some. That’s who McDonald is. They’re going to shoot a lot.

“We put a game plan together to slow them down, and it worked. We’re 1-9 against McDonald since 2021. I’m just hurting for my guys. We just have to find a way to finish and close it out.”

The Devils had an early 8-3 lead, but the Rams went on a 15-2 run to close out the first quarter to take a 15-10 lead into the second. Ridge continued to hold a lead, but McDonald senior Casey Miller (9 points) made a floater, in the lane, just before the halftime buzzer to make the score 25-23 at the break.

Then, the Devils went cold from the floor as the Rams held them scoreless for nearly the first 7 minutes of the third.

“We just needed to keep playing,” Franceschelli said. “We have to get better, and we have to make shots.”

Senior Landon Bingham (team-high 14 points) made one from downtown to put the Rams up by 9 points, but Zajack had a key block on defense. Then, he completed an and-one on offense to trim the Rams’ lead to 36-30 heading to the fourth quarter.

Senior Blake Basista (11 points) put the Rams back on top after the Devils gained their first lead. Then, senior Joey Cappuzzello (8 points) had a 1-hand put-back to put McDonald back on top.

Miller made a pair of clutch free-throws to extend McDonald’s lead to three points before missing a pair of free-throws to give the Rams a final chance of tying the score.