Southeast Conference Champions!

WASHINGTON - It was a full night Friday for the Demons.

The Washington High School seniors and their parents were honored, money was collected for Cancer Awareness and a conference title was collected by the Demon boys.

It took an extra period of play before Washington escaped Keokuk, 73-70, to claim the Southeast Conference championship with a 9-1 record, 14-6 overall. Keokuk is 15-6, 7-3. Washington's only SEC loss was 59-57 in Keokuk.

Class 4A's Keokuk's girls also won an SEC title with a 48-28 victory to give the Chiefs a 10-0 record, 17-3 overall. Washington finishes 4-6, 11-9.

'It is the first time that I have been here that we have been undefeated champions.” KHS coach Michael Davis said. 'We have won a number of times but to be undefeated and with a young team that makes it pretty sweet.”

Five seniors - Kinsey Duwa, Madison Fishback, Halle Leyden, Addison Six, Olivia Pacha - started for the Demon girls as a nod to the last regular season home game, which is Senior Night. Six had 10 points, Pacha six, Duwa two, Leyden three and Anna Nacos scored five while freshman Alex Murphy had two.

Keokuk led 16-6 after a quarter, 26-9 at the half and 9-18 after three.

'We looked better in the fourth quarter because they took their press off,” WHS coach Shannon Rugg. They are really good at pressing and running that style of defense. They got us sped up a little bit but once we slowed ourselves down we were able to execute better and we did some good things.

'The seniors are really special. In basketball terms, they are a quiet group that just go about their business. They are a laid-back group and I have enjoyed coaching them for my two years.”

In the boys game, it was obvious the Demons wanted to prove something, sprinting out to a 9-0 lead sparked by Trashaun Willis, who scored the first points, drew a charge and stuffed a dunk through the hoop.

'It's amazing to win the title,” Willis said. 'I am so glad I did it with this group of guys. To send them off on senior night, they really deserve it.

'I was mad when they didn't call a foul down here so that got me wound up and then Luke (Turner) found me on a perfect pass and I was able to throw it down.”

Turner, Trevor Quigley, Ethan Hunt, Brock Sobaski, Caleb Tanner and Jadon Crawford were the seniors honored before the game.

'Our seniors made the difference,” WHS coach Collin Stark said. 'When they first became freshmen, we might've won six or seven games and now look where we are at. This is all due to their effort and leadership. This group has really accomplished a lot.”

It was 22-11 at the end of the first quarter.

'We came out with intensity and I think they were shocked,” Stark said. 'I did not feel like we got the respect we deserve in the seeding for the postseason and I let the guys know that and we wanted to prove ourselves. We came out firing, attacking and we took it to them.”

Keokuk was able to keep close because five of its first six field goals were 3-pointers.

'They ran some good offense and felt good about themselves,” KHS coach Zach Summers said. 'Most kids are pretty good basketball players when they feel good about themselves. They made us pay. They fed off the crowd. They fed off of that energy. They came out ready to go.”

When Ethan Patterson nailed a trey, it was a 29-11 advantage for the Demons, but it was 33-23 at halftime.

'I thought we got a little traction in the second quarter,” Summers said. 'That run gave us some momentum going into halftime. We came out strong in the second half. We got our hands on a lot of basketballs. We got a lot of deflections. That gave us a lot of extra possessions and that helped get us going. From then on, it was just a battle. It was a heck of a dogfight. I thought it was great for Washington and great for us.”

An 11-1 Keokuk run in the middle of the third quarter gave the Chiefs their first lead at 39-38. It was tied at the end of the period at 46.

'I think the third quarter was a bit of both our ineptness and their defense,” Stark said. 'We don't seem to understand that when we have a 10-point lead, we need to put it up to 15 points. It took us the whole third quarter to start figuring things out.”

A Willis triple, a Hunt double and a Turner triple were the first Demon points of the fourth quarter for a 54-48 lead.

Sobaski's two free throws with 15 seconds left in regulation made it a 62-59 lead, but Isiah Seay buried a 3-pointer and was fouled, going to the line with the game tied at 62. Seay scored all 17 of his points in the second half but he missed the free throw.

The Demons were tied at Clear Creek-Amana and gave up a 4-point play with under 15 seconds left and lost.

'We might need to work on not fouling a 3-point shooter to end a game,” Stark said. 'Once we got ahead, I think we got complacent and some of our passes were lazy. That something we have always been working on and trying to fix.”

Hunt's 20-footer rimmed in, then out to end regulation.

Sobaski missed two free throws to start overtime, but Willis stole a pass at midcourt and rammed home his second slam of the game to a deafening roar. It was his 21st and 22nd points of the game to lead all scorers. 'I felt like we needed some energy,” he said. 'I just read the pass, broke on it and went for it. The crowd was amazing. I think that is the most people that I have ever seen in this gym. They made it worth it.”

Keokuk answered with a Seay 3-pointer for its first lead at 65-64 since 42-40. The lead changed hands two more times before the Demons got four straight points from Turner, who finished with 16, for a 70-67 lead. Keokuk close to 70-69 and the Demons went 3-for-8 from the line in the last minutes. Washington was 15-of-29 in the game at the foul line, 6-of-10 in the fourth quarter and 5-of-12 in overtime

'If we had had a few free throws that had fallen, we would've been OK,” Stark said. 'They didn't, so we ended up in overtime. We have to make our free throws when given the chance. A game is all about who makes the most plays and at the end, that was us.”

'Coach Stark and I both came in the same year and we were both playing meaningless games,” Summers said. 'Then we have a game like this. It was a heck of a dogfight. I thought it was great for Washington and great for us. They made a couple more plays than us but both teams were great. It was a fun high school basketball game. It was fun to watch. It was fun to coach. We try to put the kids in spots to succeed, but we got to let them play and let them do what they do best. I think both teams did that and that's what led to the game being as good as it was. It was just one team making a play and then the other team making a play and then the other team answering and that's what good high school basketball is all about. That is what we saw.”

Sobaski and Quigley had nine apiece while Ethan Patterson and Hunt each scored seven. Lucas Kroll hit a trey.

'This was a crazy game,” Stark said. 'It was such a great atmosphere. This is the loudest I have heard it since I've been here.”