Staff photo / Preston Byers McDonald’s Brady Klockner (12) and Badger’s Alton Wincheck battle for positioning on a free-throw attempt during Monday’s playoff game in McDonald.

McDONALD — There had not been many teams hotter than Badger over the past six weeks, considering the Braves won eight of their last 10, including four straight, entering Monday’s Division VII, Northeast 1 district semifinals. But their opponent, the nearly flawless McDonald Blue Devils, certainly had a case.

McDonald, only a game removed from its only loss in 23 outings, played like the top seed it is Monday. The Blue Devils raced out to a commanding lead early and cruised to an 83-59 home victory against 12th-seeded Badger.

“I thought we played really well,” McDonald head coach James Franceschelli said. “It was key for us to get off to a good start with a couple guys down tonight. … So for Mason Marvin, Anthony Larson, Joshua Krumpak, Quinn Schmidt to step up tonight the way they did for us to get off to that start was huge.”

The Blue Devils immediately set the pace Monday, and it paid early dividends. Less than three minutes into the game, McDonald had already outscored Badger 13-0, with multiple baskets coming in transition.

Although the Braves eventually scored, they were limited to just eight points in the opening quarter, at the end of which the Devils, who benefited from five triples, convincingly led 25-8.

“I think defensively, we dug in and played so well,” Franceschelli said. “And that’s kudos to our guys because Coach [Josh] Upshire does such a good job and has them ready.”

The difference after eight minutes proved to be more than enough to carry McDonald the rest of the way, but the Devils were far from done in adding to their lead, which swelled to as much as 26 in the second period, thanks to five more 3-pointers, before Badger got it down to 21 ahead of halftime.

The lead again grew in the third; after a 9-0 McDonald run, it reached 33 points, only for Badger to respond with its own 9-0 run to send the game to the fourth down 66-42.

No miracle comeback was in order for the Braves, who never got the lead under 20 despite 15 combined points in the quarter between Alton Wincheck and Jack Harnett, who had a game-high 26 and 19 points on the night, respectively.

Krumpak, who made four threes, led the way for the Blue Devils with 22 points. Drew Zajack, who had three triples himself, contributed 19. In total, nine McDonald players scored Monday, and 15 3-pointers went down, a dozen more than Badger.

“They made shots. We didn’t,” Upshire said. “Coming into the game, we wanted to make them shoot it, outside of [Zajack and Joey Cappuzzello]. We wanted to make them shoot it. And that’s a disadvantage of the way the state has done this now. We shouldn’t be playing district semifinal games on home sites. That’s neither here nor there, but it’s a disadvantage you play at.”

Cappuzzello, the Blue Devils’ leading scorer, played briefly in the first quarter before sitting the rest of the game. Franceschelli said Cappuzzello, as well as fellow senior starter Brenden Emerick have been “beat up pretty good” and, as a result, were limited in playing time Monday. Emerick scored 3 points in less than three quarters of action, while Cappuzzello was scoreless.

With Monday’s loss, Badger finished its season 13-11. The Braves went 5-8 over the first nearly two months of the season before winning eight of their final 11.

“Our kids battled,” Upshire said. “We had some injuries in the middle part of our season, had some kids miss a couple games. But we continued to battle, and we put ourselves in a great position. And it’s unfortunate we didn’t win the battle tonight.”

McDonald (23-1) will get a chance at revenge in its district championship game. The Blue Devils are set to play fifth-seeded Hillsdale, which beat No. 11 Maplewood in Monday’s other semifinal and, a little over three months ago, ended McDonald’s undefeated football season in the Division VII state semifinals.

The Devils and Falcons will meet at Mineral Ridge on Saturday at 7 p.m.

“These guys have had Hillsdale on their mind for a while after football season… so we’re pretty excited to be in this position,” Franceschelli said.