Teamwork vaults Demons past Burlington

WASHINGTON - It is an obvious statement that basketball is a team game. Sometimes it helps to be reminded of that.

Washington high school basketball players rallied around the fact that they were a team that lost their leading scorer when Kasen Bailey was hurt against Fairfield Tuesday.

Friday, five demons (Trevor Quigley, Luke Turner, Brock Sobaski, Trashaun Willis, Ethan Patterson) had double-digit scoring totals in Washington's 74-63 Southeast Conference win over the visitors from Burlington. A sixth player, Ethan Hunt, had six points and provided leadership, ball handling and key free throws in the fourth quarter.

The point total was the most since scoring an 89-51 win in the first game of the year. Hunt was one of five in double figures that game going 9-of-12 from the floor for 20 points.

'We had a long talk in the coaching office during the past week,” Hunt said. 'We decided we all needed to step up and score like Kasen was able to do. It was a team effort and we take pride in being a team.”

Patterson started his first varsity game in the win at Burlington and was the leading scorer then as well as Friday, pouring in 16 points.

'Ethan has every trick in the book and he's amazing when he plays,” Hunt said.

'Patterson has continued to improve and in big games, he has made some big plays,” WHS coach Collin Stark said. 'I don't see him as a freshman anymore. He has the respect of all the guys.”

Burlington led after the first quarter 12-11, but the game turned in the second quarter when a BHS player was whistled for a foul, then followed the ref to the scorer's table complaining and was called for a technical.

The Demons went on a 9-2 run and led 36-27 at halftime.

'It was closely guarded, closely officiated and we are an aggressive team,” BHS coach Reggie Shipp said. 'It was quite a battle but with the fouls that were called, it kind of took us out of our rhythm. We have to play through that, especially come playoff time.”

Washington was 8-of-17 on free throws in the first half and 17-of-26 in the second half. BHS was 16-for-22 in the game.

By the end of the third quarter, BHS had closed to within 51-50 as Michael Alexander scored nine of his BHS-high of 25, but Quigley was fouled on a 3-pointer with 5 seconds left and made 2-of-3 free throws for a 53-50 lead starting the fourth.

'I think the main thing for us was there were some key stretches defensively that won us the game,” Stark said. 'It helps to score over 70 but this was really a team win. This was a big win for us psychologically.”

One of those stretches involved blocked shots from Sobaski, then Willis on consecutive trips down the floor.

'We were fortunate in those stretches that we didn't get any calls against us when we made those blocks,” Stark said. 'It is all about making plays. Our guys were ready to play. We were lucky to make a little bit more plays than they did.”

'Defense leads us into offense and that gets us fired up,” Hunt said.

The Demons went on a 10-3 run during that stretch to get the lead to 63-53.

Washington made 6-of-8 free throws in the final 1:55 to maintain its lead.

'A coach always looks for things to improve on and I want to see us shoot better on free throws,” Stark said. 'But to see a teammate go down, it's tough and we rose to the challenge when it happened against Fairfield and then answered the call here. This was a closer game than the final score showed. Now where do we go?”

Washington is now 11-4, 7-1 and hosts Mid-Prairie Monday. They have a half game lead on Keokuk for the league lead. The only loss is to Keokuk and the last game of the regular season is a home game against the Chiefs.

BHS is 5-7, 3-3.

'This was a great game to play and I had a lot of fun,” Hunt said. 'Our coaches kept telling us to drive, so we drove and that resulted in free throws. I think we won the game because of that.”