Demons come up short in 3A playoff opener

TIFFIN — Washington boys basketball saw its season come to an end on Monday night after a 74-67 loss to Clear Creek-Amana in the Class 3A District 5 bracket.

The Demons played some of their best ball of the season through the second and early stages of the third quarter, but the Clippers did just enough late to come away with the win.

It took the Demons a quarter to get into their groove in the opening round bout.

CC-A put together a 10-0 run through the first quarter, which culminated in a 16-7 lead. By the end of the first quarter, Washington trailed 20-12.

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In the second, Washington picked it up.

After a two from CC-A gave the Clippers their largest lead of the night, 22-12, Washington began to click.

A three ball from Roman Roth kicked started a 13-4 run by the Demons, which featured an additional pair of threes from Logan McDole and Nic Stone. By the end of that run, the Demons were down by just one, 26-25 with 2:41 remaining in the half.

CC-A went up by five, 30-25, with 1:16 to go, but back-to-back threes from Stone and McDole put the Demons up 31-30.

The two squads tied at 31-31 and 33-33 within the final minute, but a McDole was able to find Kael Williams cutting to the basket, who hit a reverse layup as the buzzer sounded to put the Demons up 35-33 at the half.

Washington continued to dominate for four and a half minutes through the third period.

The Demons knocked down a trifecta of three balls through that period, adding up to a 15-8 run. Following the final three from Drew Conrad, Washington held its largest lead of the night, 50-41.

However, CC-A rallied in the final minutes.

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Beginning at the 1:44 mark, the Clippers rattled off an 11-1 run to the end of the quarter, knotting the game at 52-52.

The Demons continued to battle in the opening half of the fourth. Washington and CC-A traded the lead four times through four minutes, with the Demons final lead coming at 59-57 off a three from Rajan Roth.

From then on out, CC-A finished strong.

The Clippers followed with an 8-0 run to make it 65-59.

A McDole three pulled the Demons to within three, 65-62, with 2:28 remaining, but back-to-back buckets by the Clippers made it 69-62 and the Demons couldn't get it back.

“Before this game, we talked win or lose we wanted to make sure we brought our best effort and played our best game for four quarters,” Washington head coach Collin Stark said. “It’s just those little detail things that win or lose you basketball games. Unfortunately some of those little things didn’t go our ways in the end. At the same time, our guys continued to battle. That’s something their going to learn from whether its the seniors looking at life and continuing to face adversity head on.”

McDole led Washington with 20 points. Roman Roth added 17. The Demons close at 6-15.

Washington says goodbye to seniors Roman Roth, Andrew Shepherd and Noah Greiner.