McDonald Erupts For 49
By MARCUS HELTON
BETHESDA – In a game that his team needed to win to stay in the Interstate Athletic Conference title hunt, Landon School senior guard Joe McDonald turned in one of the top individual performances the area may see all season.
McDonald – who committed to play at George Washington University last week – scored 49 points and grabbed 18 rebounds to lift the Bears to an 83-80 overtime victory over visiting Episcopal on Friday.
McDonald hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game to overtime – one of six that he made on the night – and rally the Bears from a six-point deficit in the final minute of regulation. He went 15-of-18 from the free throw line, scored nine of his team’s 12 points in OT, and came up with back-to-back steals on Episcopal’s final two possessions of the extra period to seal the win.
“That is the runaway best performance I’ve ever seen in a high school basketball game – by anybody, period,” Landon coach Andy Luther said. “I’ve coached for 18 years, and I’ve not seen anything like that with the free throws, that 3 at the end of regulation, 18, 20 rebounds or whatever it was. That’s a complete a game as I’ve seen, and we needed every single one of those points.”
Indeed, McDonald’s heroics carried the Bears (12-6 overall, 4-2 in the IAC) on a night when Episcopal senior guard Kethan Savage and junior guard Dough Chappell also turned in big performances. Savage – who will be McDonald’s teammate at GW next season – scored 26 points before fouling out late in the fourth quarter, while Chappell put up 24.
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The Maroon (14-2, 5-1) played without Wake Forest-bound senior forward Arnaud Adala-Moto, who sat with what coach Jim Fitzpatrick said was a knee sprain suffered against St. Albans on Tuesday. Fitzpatrick said he hopes Adala-Moto will return to practice on Monday. His absence proved especially costly on the glass, as the Bears – McDonald, in particular – were able to generate plenty of second-chance points.
“I think Joe McDonald proved tonight why he’s a great player, and why he deserves to be playing in the Atlantic 10 for George Washington next year,” Fitzpatrick said. “It’s exciting, certainly, to see a young man in our conference step up and make plays the way that he did tonight. I can’t say it’s a surprise, because I’ve been watching it now for four years, but a very impressive game by Joe. Not only the way he played and made shots, but his composure throughout the game was also impressive.”
McDonald’s 49 points surpassed his previous personal best of 34 set against Bullis on January 17.
“My teammates put me in a good position to score, “ he said, “and we knew that they were going to try and stop me, so I think that coming out, I had to come out strong from the beginning and set the tone for my team. As a captain I think I did a good job of that, and I give a lot of credit to my teammates. They rallied around me, so that was good. It wasn’t just me, it was the whole team.”
The Maroon grabbed the early lead and went in at the half ahead 32-30. Landon took the lead on a 3-pointer by McDonald with 6 minutes remaining in the third quarter, but Episcopal regained it and took a 69-63 lead with just 55.1 seconds to go in the game after Chappell made two free throws.
That’s when things got really interesting. After McDonald came down and hit a 3 to cut the deficit to three points, Landon called a timeout with 49.2 seconds remaining. Chappell was fouled and went to the line to shoot a 1-and-1 with 44 seconds to go, but missed. McDonald was then fouled and stepped to the line with 33.1 seconds remaining and calmly sank both to cut Episcopal’s lead to 69-68.
The Maroon worked the clock down to 21.5 seconds before junior guard Brennan McCann was fouled, and he made both free throws to put Episcopal up by three.
On Landon’s ensuing possession, the ball ended up in the hands of guard Hank Brown at the top of the key with 10 seconds remaining. He found an opening and tried to drive to the basket for a quick two, but his off-balance attempt fell short and was rebounded by Episcopal’s Rob Williamson, who was fouled with 4.9 seconds remaining and went to the free throw line with a chance to ice the game.
Williamson missed both shots, however, and McDonald rebounded the second miss and raced up court. McDonald said that last year, Luther would often have him practice similar situations in practice; putting four or five seconds on the clock and telling him to fly up the floor and take a shot.
“We would do that after every practice last year, so I guess here it paid off,” he said. “So, I give credit to him. [The shot] felt good. They let me get it in my right hand, and I think my pull-up’s pretty strong to my right side, so it felt very good.”
McDonald’s shot fell through the net as the crowd erupted. 
The two teams battled back and forth in the overtime period, when Chappell hit what appeared to be the go-ahead bucket, giving Episcopal an 80-79 lead with 17 seconds left.
No lead proved safe with McDonald on the floor, though, and he made two free throws to put his team up 81-80 with 8.9 seconds to go. On Episcopal’s ensuing inbounds, he knocked the ball away from McCann and was fouled by Williamson with 2.7 seconds to go. He made both shots to give the Bears a three-point lead, and then stole the ball as Episcopal tried to work it for a last-second 3-point attempt.
“I definitely didn’t want to shy away from the ball,” McDonald said, “and I didn’t want to put any of my teammates in bad situation. Since I’ve been here since my freshman year, in situations like this, I feel like I need to make plays.”
McDonald said he thought Friday’s win could serve as a springboard for Landon, which avenged a 71-55 loss at Episcopal on Jan. 10.
“I think as a goal we’re trying to get that bye for the playoffs,” he said, “and to get that we have to finish first or second, so we need t win out. Next week isn’t going to get any easier: we have Bullis Friday and Tuesday we’re at [Georgetown] Prep, so those will both be tough games, but hopefully this can give us a lot of confidence. With this young team that we have, I think the more games we play together, the closer we get.”
EPISCOPAL
Kethan Savage 26, Doug Chappell 24, Brennan McCann 11, Rob Williamson 8, Foster Joseph 6, Will Hollister 3, Will Thomas 2.
LANDON
Joe McDonald 49, Deion Wellington 10, Harry Laird 8, Isaiah Colclough 7, Khaleet Bradford 2, Cyrus House 2, Tumi Onaghise 2, Addison Sarter 2, Sebastian Wells 1.
Episcopal 19 12 14 25 5 – 80
Landon 12 18 16 25 12 – 83
3-point goals: E 4 (McCann 2, Chappell 1, Hollister 1), L 6 (McDonald 6). Total Fouls: E 16, L 19. Fouled Out- E (Savage), L (Sarter).
TOP: Landon's Joe McDonald takes a shot over future George Washington University teammate Kethan Savage. RIGHT: Episcopal's Doug Chappell goes up for a shot as Landon's Hank Brown (left) and Harry Laird defend. - Photos by Marcus Helton, DMV Elite.
Contact DMV Elite Editor-in-chief Marcus Helton at mhelton@dmvelite.com or on Twitter @MarcusHelton. Also, check out DMV Elite on Facebook!
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