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Washington Evening Journal
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Demons moving on!
Washington boys earn sweet revenge over Burlington in Substate opener
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BURLINGTON — The Washington boys basketball team was swept by Burlington during the regular season, and had lost six of the last seven games against the Grayhounds coming into Monday’s Class 3A Substate 5 opener.
Not only did the Demons flip the script on the Grayhounds, but they also flipped the script on recent tournament history, winning the first postseason game for Washington boys basketball in four years.
“Both teams played extremely hard out there, and it was physical,” said Washington head coach Collin Stark. “There have been some physical games where we didn’t rise to the occasion, but I thought we did here.”
The Demons got the early jump, thanks to some strong defense in the opening quarters. Burlington failed to reach double digits in each of the first two periods, and Washington enjoyed a 10-9 lead after the first quarter, as well as 22-18 halftime advantage.
The game was back-and-forth all night long, with neither team getting separation from the other. Washington held a 38-35 lead after the third quarter, and Burlington continued to chase that small Demon lead all night long.
“Burlington is a tough team, and they play tough defense, and the fans get into it,” said Demon senior Kael Williams. “Every time we’ve played Burlington in my career, it’s always like that. You have to go into the game knowing it’s going to be like that, and you’ve got to fight.”
Washington was clinging on to a one-point lead in the final seconds, when Burlington had two good looks to win it in the 10 ticks. A fight for the rebound resulted in a tie-up, and the arrow pointed toward Washington.
“It was hard,” said senior Rajan Roth. “They got a nice little midrange, and in the air, I thought it was in.”
Williams forced the tie-up on the rebound with 1.7 seconds on the clock. On the ensuing possession, he was fouled with less than a half second left, and made two free throws to stretch the lead to three.
Nic Stone finished the game with 14 points to lead the Demons, hitting four 3-pointers in the victory. Williams had 13 points. Roth finished with 11 points and seven rebounds, and Drew Conrad finished with 11 points and four steals to give the Demons four double-digit scorers.
“It felt great,” said Conrad, one of three senior starters. “Them beating us earlier in the year was tough, but we really stepped up tonight. It was just fun to be out there.”
Tate Greiner and Ashton Manz each had two points for the Demons, Boden Brown was the only other Washington player to see the floor.
Now 13-10, the Washington boys have a big opportunity to take a giant step this Thursday. The Demons will play at fourth-ranked and top-seeded Pella (19-4) in the Substate semifinals. The winner will get either Center Point-Urbana or Keokuk in the final on March 2.
