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Washington Evening Journal
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Washington comeback falls short on the road
Demons storm back, but drop conference game to Grayhounds
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
BURLINGTON — Washington and Burlington were neck and neck through the first half of their Southeast Conference bout on Friday night.
Five points is all that separated the two at the half, but a dominant third period was enough to slip the Grayhounds past the Demons, 59-54, despite a fourth-quarter comeback being in the works.
The two squads traded punches in the first quarter. Logan McDole went four-for-four from the line through the first two minutes of the game to give the Demons an early 4-0 lead.
But struggles ensued as the Demons didn’t score for over three minutes, until Seth Shepherd dropped in a pair at the 3:09 mark.
Despite the shooting drought, Burlington built just a 6-4 lead through that span.
Burlington tied the game with an and one on the next possession. From then on out, they wouldn’t trail through the rest of the period.
After the Grayhounds went up 11-8, another Shepherd bucket cut it to one, 11-10, and that’s how the first frame would end.
Through the second quarter, Washington tied the game at 12-12 after Conner Leyden found a streaking Kael Williams.
The Demons stayed right in it, but could never grab the lead. Washington trailed by one on three separate occasions at 17-16, 19-18 and 21-20.
Burlington proceeded to build its largest lead of the game, scoring six unanswered to make it 27-20. A two from the Demon’s Drew Conrad with 22 seconds remaining set up the halftime score of 27-22.
The Grayhound’s five point halftime advantage only expanded in the third. Burlington went up by as much as 18 in the third quarter, before the game settled at 49-33 heading into the fourth.
Washington was outscored in the third frame 22-11. However, the Demons did not deter.
The Demons, who had been in a funk from the field, suddenly erupted in the fourth, dominating the Greyhounds with a 21-10 eight minute verse.
Conrad, McDole, Rajan Roth and Nic Stone each drilled a deep ball to pull the Demons within a possession, 57-54 with 36.3 seconds. The quartet settled a 11-2 run.
Washington got the ball with a chance to tie with less than 30 ticks left, but a turnover and steal all but sealed it.
Conrad led Washington with 13 points. Shepherd followed with 12 and Stone ended with 11.
Washington drops its third straight and moves to 3-2 in SEC action, 5-6 overall.
