Washington takes down Trojan boys

WASHINGTON, Iowa ? Fairfield cut Washington?s lead to four points midway through the second quarter of Friday?s Southeast Conference contest, but the Demons closed the first half on a 12-2 run and then opened the second half with an 8-2 run to open up a 20-point lead. From there, Washington cruised to a 71-47 win over the rival Trojans.

Fairfield senior Cody Kook put back a missed shot with 3:26 remaining in the second quarter to cap an 8-0 Trojan run and trim Washington?s lead to 28-24. Washington head coach Bryce Smeins quickly called a timeout.

?I thought we played great defense for the first 10 or 11 minutes, and then we kind of went into the tank a little bit,? Smeins said. ?So we just took a timeout and got reorganized on defense.?

It worked, as the Demons (3-2, 1-0 SEC) held the Trojans without a field goal for the rest of the first half. Washington closed the first half on a 12-2 run, and senior Jake Redlinger?s 15-foot jumper in the closing seconds of the second quarter gave the Demons a 40-26 lead at the intermission.

?I think our effort was just a lot better in that short run that we had,? Washington senior Colin Steele said. ?We were giving up easy baskets, and then we just decided to play a little harder and not give up the easy buckets that we were giving them.?

Then the Demons opened the second half on an 8-2 run, and Steele?s jumper from the baseline gave Washington a 48-28 lead.

?We talked in the locker room about how the first four minutes of that third quarter could really make or break us,? Fairfield head coach Tyler Miklo said. ?Nothing seemed to want to fall for us in that third quarter.?

Washington outscored Fairfield 20-9 in the third quarter and opened up a 25-point lead heading into the fourth.

The Demons shot 63 percent from the field in the contest. Steele, who went 7-for-8 from the field and made both of his shots from beyond the 3-point arc, led Washington with a game-high 18 points. Redlinger went 6-for-9 from the field and added 12 points, and senior Brock Kimball had 10.

?I thought we shot the ball well tonight,? Smeins said. ?Our guys looked comfortable shooting the ball.?

Fairfield (2-3, 0-2 SEC) shot just 36 percent from the field, and the Trojans were 0-for-8 from beyond the arc. Senior Davis Lowenberg led Fairfield with 14 points, and junior Dillon Fry added 10.

The game was close in the first quarter, but Washington closed the first quarter on a 10-0 run and led 23-12 after eight minutes of play. But the Trojans battled back in the second quarter to trim the Demons? lead to four points.

?Coach Smeins rightly called that timeout there,? Miklo said. ?I think we?d been scrambling to get back into it, and he kind of got his guys refocused. I think our guys kind of ran out of gas a little bit toward the end of that half.?

Washington?s defense forced Fairfield into 16 turnovers in the first half and 24 in the game.

?We turned the ball over way too much,? Miklo said. ?I think we had 16 turnovers in that first half, and we can?t be competitive when we?re doing things like that.?

Washington ended a two-game skid. The Demons had lost back-to-back games to Pella Christian and Muscatine by a combined five points.

?I thought our guys bounced back after two tough losses,? Smeins said. ?They didn?t hang their heads. They knew they played pretty well.?

Fairfield will look for win No. 3 when they travel to Davis County Tuesday.

FAIRFIELD ? Nik Fitch 0 2-2 2, Brent Buch 4 1-1 9, Spencer Peterman 0 0-0 0, Dillon Fry 5 0-0 10, Braz Johnson 1 1-2 3, Darrin Dimmitt 0 1-2 1, Jordan Whitney 0 0-0 0, Joseph Heitpas 0 0-0 0, Kyle Weirup 0 0-0 0, Nathan Barker 0 0-0 0, Davis Lowenberg 6 2-6 16, Cody Kool 4 0-0 8. Totals 20 7-13 47.

WASHINGTON ? Dillon Redlinger 2 3-6 8, Michael Hall 2 0-0 4, Jake Dickinson 1 0-0 3, Kyle Roder 2 0-1 4, Jake Redlinger 6 0-0 12, Alex Coker 0 0-0 0, Colin Steele 7 2-2 18, Brock Kimball 4 1-2 10, Justin Hoffman 2 2-2 6, Andrew Vogel 3 0-0 6. Totals 29 8-13 71.

3-point goals: Steele 2, D. Redlinger, Dickinson, Kimball. Total fouls: Fairfield 17, Washington 17. Fouled out: none.