Demons pull away from Fort Madison

The Fort Madison Bloodhounds gave the Washington Demon boys a heck of a game through the first half Tuesday night. The Demons took a 31-28 lead into halftime and expanded on it in the third quarter to 52-37. With about three minutes left in the game, the Demons had stretched their lead to 20 at 65-45. Fort Madison made a run in the fourth quarter but it was too little too late as Washington won 70-59.

Washington head coach Bryce Smeins explained that the difference in the two halves was the Demons? defense.

?I thought we played with more defensive intensity in the second half and that helped us build a lead,? he said. ?We didn?t play well the first 16 minutes. In the first half, our press was not as good as it could have been. We need to get better at playing all four quarters instead of two quarters. In the second half, we changed presses and it worked. We changed what we were doing with the alignment a little bit.?

Senior Brock Kimball led the way for the Demons on offense with 19 points on 6-15 shooting and 5-5 at the free throw line. Senior Colin Steele shot 6-10 and finished with 14 points, five rebounds, five assists, one steal and had the game?s only block. Senior Dillon Redlinger was 5-10 from the floor and scored 13 points to go with a team-leading eight rebounds, three steals and four assists.

Senior Jake Redlinger scored 12 points on 5-6 shooting and collected six rebounds, one steal and two assists. Junior Kyle Roder scored nine points on 3-6 shooting and picked up three rebounds and two assists. Junior Michael Hall had two points, two rebounds, two steals and an assist. Junior Justin Hoffman had one point, two rebounds and two assists. Senior Andrew Vogel finished with three rebounds.

?We had excellent balance on the offensive end,? Smeins said. ?When we have good balance, it makes us hard to guard. Brock had a nice ballgame and played good post defense. Dillon Redlinger played good defense. All the seniors played well and there was also good balance between them on the glass. Michael Hall played well off the bench. He comes in and gives us a good effort every night.?

As a team, the Demons shot 46 percent overall, 26-56, including 4-15 (27 percent) behind the arc. Fort Madison shot 48 percent overall and 25 percent, 3-12, behind the arc. Fort Madison shot well from the free throw line, going 10-12 (83 percent). Washington did not shoot as well but went to the line more than twice as many times, where they hit 14-26 (54 percent).

The Demons out-rebounded the Bloodhounds 31-24 and committed fewer turnovers, six to the Bloodhounds? 10. Washington led in steals, 8-4, and in assists, 16-14.

Washington will now take a week off before resuming practice Wednesday. Smeins said he is glad to give his boys some time off.

?They play a lot of sports and now they can catch their breath to be ready for the second half,? he said. ?January and February is the tough part of the season.?

The Demons? first game back after the break is Friday, Jan. 6 in Mt. Pleasant.

?We?ve got our hands full in game one,? Smeins said. ?Mt. Pleasant has a lot of kids back from last year and they?re well coached. They?re 3-0 in the league and so are we. We are going to spend the next two weeks devising a plan against them.?

The Demons are now 6-3 overall while the Bloodhounds are 2-5.