Rasile moved into fifth place in OHSAA history, as he now has 2,651 career points, surpassing LeBron James on the all-time list, but similar to the early years of James’ time with the Cleveland Cavaliers, it wasn’t enough.

A tall, talented and veteran Waterloo group overcame a late rally by Rasile and pulled away for a 57-48 victory Friday at a packed McDonald High School.

The lanky Vikings (14-1) have two post players standing 6-foot-7 and a pair of guards at 6-3 and 6-4. Their length paid dividends as they dominated the boards and forced Rasile into several difficult shots. The sharpshooting guard still finished with 28 points, but it came on 7-of-28 from the floor, and his teammates couldn’t find their touch either, finishing 8-of-23.

That’s what made rebounding and battling for every possession so important, and McDonald (14-2) couldn’t stack up with Waterloo.

Staff photo / Joe Simon Waterloo’s Gavin English, left, picks up a loose ball after McDonald’s Zach Rasile, bottom, lost his footing during the Blue Devils’ loss on Friday.

“You know in a game like this that the shooting is going to be tough, both sides,” said Jeff Rasile, Zach’s father and McDonald’s coach, “but the loose balls and the tipped rebounds that we didn’t get to killed us, especially in the first half.”

Defense played a big role as well, and both teams were on their game in what was a physical, contentious contest.

The Vikings held a 30-24 lead at halftime, and the offenses stalled even more in the third quarter, with Waterloo scoring just seven points, and McDonald rallying for 10. The “rallying” came in the final minute of the quarter, with Rasile hitting a tough layup in traffic, and Eli Street then stealing a pass and finishing a layup in the waning seconds to cut the Vikings’ lead to 37-34.

The finish awoke a huge Blue Devils crowd and set the stage for a dramatic fourth quarter.

“A lot of people, a lot of energy, and this is exactly what we thought it was going to be,” Waterloo coach Jason Wise said of the atmosphere. “We knew the energy was going to be high in here, and they’re a great team. They’re not ranked sixth in the state (in Division IV) for nothing. They’re much better than they were last year, and this is a tough place to play.”

Not too tough for a Waterloo team that has a lineup loaded with three-year starters.

Their best player on this night was guard Kyle Shockley. He played solid defense against Zach Rasile, and he also hit a big shot every time the Vikings needed one. The first was a deep 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded to end the first quarter, and the next few were even more important.

McDonald kept the momentum going from the end of the third quarter, but after a huge 3 by Rasile gave the Blue Devils a 43-39 lead midway through the fourth quarter, Shockley answered seconds later with a 3 of his own. Waterloo took the lead on its next possession when 6-7 forward Max Adelman (14 points) made a field goal, and Shockley followed with a tough layup in the lane.

Rasile tied it with another 3 (he made six in the game), but Shockley, who had a team-high 18 points, somehow finished a circus shot on the other end. After a miss by Rasile on the next possession, the Vikings closed things out at the free-throw line.

“We were up four, and their point guard (Shockley) hit a 3, and it was a tough one,” Zach Rasile said. “A couple plays go our way instead of their way, and it’s a different game. I really do believe we can play with anybody.”

Zach Rasile is the main reason why.

He scored 19 of the team’s 24 second-half points. The team’s next highest scorer had eight points, and that was exactly what Wise and Vikings wanted to happen.

“We told our kids, ‘Zach is going to get his. We know he’s going to get his points, but thing you have to do against them is contain the others,'” Wise said.

While Zach said it was nice to surpass James, it didn’t do much to quell the disappointment of losing to Waterloo again.

The Division III Vikings have defeated McDonald twice this year and also beat them twice last year.

“Obviously I would’ve rather won,” he said, “but that is pretty cool. It’s LeBron. He’s arguably the greatest player to every play basketball, so it’s pretty cool.”