Demon boys end season in Oskaloosa

OSKALOOSA ? The Washington boys basketball team sawtheir season end Monday, Feb. 20, as the Oskaloosa Indians easily won over the Demons in the first round of the District 12 postseason 81-46.

Oskaloosa started the game with a 9-0 run before Washington could get a shot in the basket.

The Indians were strong the entire first quarter holding Washington back to only nine points while they put up 21.

In the second quarter, Washington scored 12 points, but Oskaloosa added 24 points to take a 45-21 lead at the half.

Both teams had similar scoring in the third quarter with Oskaloosa having 14 points and Washington scoring 13.

In the final frame, Oskaloosa would dominate the floor after scoring 22 points and holding Washington back to only 12 to get the win and advance in the postseason.

Going into the game, Washington coach Collin Stark knew it was going to be a challenge.

?They have size and they definitely got guys in the right places to make plays,? he says. ?I thought they did that to a tee tonight.

?It?s kind of hard with the size that they have, that it?s not a great match-up for us.?

As for Washington?s action on the court, ?I thought our guys played hard,? Stark says.

?You can never fault their effort. It?s just that some nights you have to do whatever you can to continue to fight and scrap.?

Not getting many baskets in the game added to the downfall.

?I wish our shots would have gone, then it would have been a little closer of a game,? Stark says. ?We had some open looks that just didn?t fall.?

The lead scorer for Washington was Dalton Myers with 14 points. Mason Rich followed with 11.

Both Luke Turner and John Dillon scored four points. Tanner Coleman, Jaivonn Willis and Jacob Van Osdol each scored three points while both Cale Hobscheidt and Cade Hennigan had two points apiece.

Washington had difficulty in getting rebounds which didn?t help in the scoring.

?We have to box out,? Stark says. ?We could have done that better. For their size, you?re not going to out-jump them.

?I know we have some athletes who can jump, but you have to box out especially when there is a 6-foot-10 kid who can do what he can do. That hurt us.

?There were too many second-chance points along with too many points in the paint and Oskaloosa?s Spencer Tucker shot lights out tonight.

?That?s tough, too, when they are able to shoot from 3, with their size, that?s tough to guard.?

Now that the season is over, Stark reflects on the past season and looks ahead to the next one.

?I?m going to re-watch film. This is the time to adjust and see what we did well and what needs to be changed a little bit.

?You can?t always feel that you have the perfect system. You have to continue to adapt and figure out how to get your guys in the right position.

?I thought this year, we progressed a lot. I like, offensively, some of the action that we have. We will continue to build off that.

?I?m excited for the possibilities of next year. We have a system in now, that next year, in the first couple weeks, we don?t need to put in a new system, we just have to tweak it.

?Maybe we can be a little more detail oriented where some of the things we didn?t do well tonight, we can get that accomplished in the first couple weeks next year and hopefully start off the year well.?

Stark complimented on how well the seniors played in their last game.

?They gave it their all,? he says. ?This was more about them tonight and what they did this year and to celebrate the accomplishments they did.

?Hopefully when they come back in a couple years, they will feel proud of what they did and hope they know they had a part in where this program is going.?

Oskaloosa?s win puts their record at 13-8 and they will play Knoxville at home Thursday. Washington?s loss ends their season with a 7-14 record.