Washington falls in weekend games

The Washington basketball team had a big first half from starting guard Jack Redlinger, but the red-hot Mt. Pleasant Panthers ran away with the game in the second half, winning 62-40, behind three double-digit scorers.

The guard combo of Brady Sartorius and Jordan Magnani were on fire in the first two quarters for Mt. Pleasant on Friday night, and helped the Panthers jump out to a 16-6 lead after the first period.

The Demons hung tough in the second quarter, as Washington fought back from a 24-10 deficit midway through the second quarter and cut the Mt. Pleasant lead to 26-17 with 2:11 left in the half on a Redlinger 3-pointer.

?Jack had about three or four possessions in a row where he hit some 3s and kept us in the ballgame,? said Washington coach Bryce Smeins about his sophomore guard.

Sartorius led all scorers with 13 points at the break. Redlinger had 12 points, including three 3-pointers.

In the third quarter, the Panthers started to speed the game up and score more points in transition, and also had the half-court offense flowing, as Mt. Pleasant began to stretch the lead against the Demons.

Dalton Myers scored all nine of his points in the second half, as the Panthers outscored the Demons, 30-20 in the second half, to secure the 62-40 victory.

Redlinger added three more points in the second half to finish with a team-high 15 for Washington, while senior Derek Anding reached double digits, with 11 points.

All of Myers? nine points came in the second half. Dakota Suchan had three points on a deep ball in the first half, and Bryce Sinn added two.

?We?re getting better,? said Smeins after the contest. ?They?re getting a little better every day. We just need to play 32 minutes of good basketball.?

Mt. Pleasant moved to 6-2 with the win over Washington, and collected a second weekend home win against Central Lee, 66-29, on Saturday, led by a 19-point performance by Magnani.

Washington lost a heartbreaker in overtime at Center Point-Urbana in its second game of the weekend on Saturday, falling 77-70.

A strong second quarter for the Demons put them on top by five at the halftime break, 41-36, but a second-half surge by CPU tied the game up, where the Demons ran into foul trouble, as Washington saw four players foul out.

Myers scored a team-high 28 points in the contest, while Mason Rich hit double figures with 10 points. John Dillon had eight points and a team-high 10 rebounds.

Washington will continue its season on Tuesday night as they head to West Liberty for a game at 7:45 p.m.

?Journal sports editor Aaron Viner contributed to this report.