Demons have to be wary of upset bids

WASHINGTON - The thought, the assumption, the seeding, the plan was that the Clear Creek-Amana boys would return to Washington in the Class 3A basketball postseason after the Demons defeated the Clippers 64-58 in the regular season. Washington's Southeast Conference championship and that win helped earn a higher seed and be the host for substate games.

'I had looked at the Clear Creek game as the deciding factor for the two or three seed,” Washington head coach Collin Stark said. 'By us beating them without Kasen Bailey (who was injured at that time), I felt that the other coaches would also see it that way. If we meet Clear Creek again, I am sure that they will be extremely motivated to beat us in the second round, as will our team to show that our seed was earned.”

That's why the games are played.

The second round is here and Clear Creek-Amana is not.

Grinnell and its record of 9-13 defeated the Clippers at Clear Creek-Amana Monday 69-58 and come to Washington tonight with another upset in its thoughts and plans.

'We have to make sure not to overlook Oskaloosa because it is a much improved team from the first time (a 50-30 Demon win) we played,” Stark said before the Indians nearly defeated the Demons.

The Demons finally repelled that upset bid of a 2-19 Oskaloosa team Monday, 49-37, after a halftime tie.

Grinnell edged Oskaloosa Feb. 12 39-35. Grinnell lost to fourth-ranked Dallas Center-Grimes 66-58 the previous day.

Postseason is when it's time to use all the knowledge gained during the season and play at peak performance.

To defeat CCA, Grinnell made 9-of-12 3-pointers. The team shoots 32.8 percent from the 3-point line. Cole McGriff was 4-of-5 on triples, 4-of-7 on twos for 20 points. McGriff's season average for points is 5.1. AJ Wilkins was 3-for-4 on treys and 3-for-6 on deuces for 18 points. Wilkins averages 12.1 a game. Brooks Latimer, who averages 7.9 points a game, was 2-for-2 on threes and scored 10. Owen Coffman is the Tigers leading scorer at 12.4 a game and leading rebounder at 6.4. In the CCA game he scored eight with five rebounds.

As a team, the Tigers averaged 51 points a game and gave up 54. The Demons average 60.6 and give up 53.8.

Ethan Patterson averages 16.1 points a game, shooting 39.9 percent on 3-pointers, 46.6 overall and 89.7 on free throws. Kasen Bailey's injury but his average is at 13.8 on 35.6 percent shooting, 30.3 on triples and 79.7 at the line. He leads the team in assists at 3.8 a game. The Demons leading rebounder is almost a tie with Lance Sobaski at 6.8, Trashaun Willis at 6.7 and Lucas Kroll at 6.3. Willis averages 10 points a game and two blocks. Sobaski, Kroll and Travis Leyden all have a scoring average between 7.0 and 7.9.

'I expect a hard-fought battle at our place,” Stark said.

One goal was achieved with the league title for the second year in a row, but that title means nothing in the postseason. Last year's title equaled a first-round loss to a team Washington had defeated twice in the regular season.

The next goal is to get to the state tournament but the No. 5 team would be in the way if Washington defeats Grinnell.

'Pella is definitely the team to beat and we have been working hard to possibly get a rematch from the first time we played them,” Stark said. That game was ugly on the Demons floor, a 21-7 first-quarter deficit in the 87-55 loss, out-rebounded 51-32, 3-point percentage 33-16 with nine triples made to four, and overall shot percentage was 46-33.

'If we are able to earn a chance to play a substate game against Pella or anyone from the top half of the bracket, that means we played well,” Stark said. 'We are looking forward to making a run this postseason.”