The Washington Blue Lions went right back to work on the second day of 2018 with a non-conference game against Logan on a bitterly cold Tuesday night.
Washington hung right with Logan until the final six minutes of the game, in which the Chieftains went on an 18-0 run to close out a 66-47 victory.
Logan improves to 8-0 overall, while the Blue Lions fall to 2-5 on the season.
The Blue Lions, short-handed on the night, played only six players Tuesday.
A pair of juniors, Dillon Steward and Evan Upthegrove, led Washington, each with 16 points.
Sophomore Miguel O’Flaherty scored five points, junior Blaise Tayese had four points and sophomores Eli Lynch and Garitt Leisure each had three points.
For the Chieftains, Bo Myers was the game’s leading scorer with 27 points.
Caiden Landis, a 6-6 junior, scored 18 points and had four slam dunks.
Junior Coby Bell had 16 points.
The game was tied just once, at 2-2.
Logan took a 21-12 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The second and third quarters were much better for the Blue Lions.
Washington pulled to within one point at 22-21 with 3:56 remaining in the first half following an old-fashioned three-point play by O’Flaherty.
Logan outscored Washington 9-2 down the stretch of the second quarter to take a 31-23 halftime lead.
The Chieftains led twice in the third quarter by as many as 12 points.
By the time the third quarter had drawn to a close, the Blue Lions had pulled to within six at 48-42.
Five quick points, two from Steward and three from Upthegrove, pulled the Blue Lions to within one point, 48-47, with 6:23 to play in the game.
Unfortunately for Washington, they would not score again the rest of the game.
The Blue Lions had seven of their game total of 17 turnovers in the final six minutes of the contest Tuesday night.
“We knew we had to play zone against them,” Washington head coach Shannon Bartruff said. “They are a really good team and they are well-coached. They have two really good players, then they have a couple of other good players who know their roles.
“The Myers kid, he scored 23 straight, I think, against Unioto at the beginning of the year,” Bartruff said. “He had something like 35 for the game. And then, the Landis kid, he’s a great player. He’s 6-6 and very athletic. We didn’t match-up very well, but, they didn’t really (match-up) well against us, either.
“I thought we exploited some things on them in the first half,” Bartruff said. “I knew as soon as went to our man-to-man (defense) it was going to be tough. But, you can’t just stand in a zone when you’re down by 10 points with two or three minutes to go.
“A little bit was their aggression, defensively,” Bartruff said. “A little bit was our not being poised and composed in certain situations. It was a two or three-point game with four minutes to go and we turned the ball over maybe three or four straight possessions and it turned into a 10-point game with a couple of minutes to go.
“That was the difference in the game, the fourth quarter,” Bartruff said. “I felt like we battled, even in the first quarter. We had nine turnovers in the first half and we’re down, six or eight at the half.
“Then we came out in the third quarter and took care of the ball and made some shots and got right back in it,” Bartruff said. “We are really young. We have two kids with varsity experience. Evan started for us every game last year. He was First Team, All-SCOL. Dillon started most of the games. Blaise didn’t play any varsity last year and the rest of the kids were freshmen last year that were playing j-v basketball.
“We scrapped hard, at times,” Bartruff said. “We just always have a two, three or four minute stretch where we don’t play well. We have a tendency to let one mistake snowball and it turns into two or three. We have to be mentally tougher. We just have to continue to get better and we’ve got to take better care of the basketball.”
Washington is back in action Tuesday, Jan. 9 at Lancaster. It will be the first of three straight road games for the Blue Lions.
Washington will play at Hillsboro Friday, Jan. 12 and be at Gallia Academy Saturday, Jan. 13.
The Blue Lions have rescheduled their game with Adena for Saturday, Feb. 3.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
W 12 11 19 5 — 47
L 21 10 17 18 — 66
WASHINGTON — Eli Lynch 0 (1)-0-3; Dillon Steward 6 (1)-1-16; Evan Upthegrove 4 (2)-2-16; Miguel O’Flaherty 2-1-5; Garitt Leisure 0 (1)-0-3; Blaise Tayese 2-0-4. TOTALS — 14 (5)-4-47. Free throw shooting: 4 of 4 for 100 percent. Three-point field goals: Upthegrove, 2; Lynch, Steward, Leisure. Field goal shooting: 19 of 43 for 44 percent. Turnovers: 17.
LOGAN — Bo Myers 7 (4)-1-27; Caleb Bell 0 (1)-0-3; Caiden Landis 8-2-18; Landon Little 0-0-0; Layton Cassady 0-0-0; Wes Brooks 1-0-2; Coby Bell 4 (2)-2-16. TOTALS — 20 (7)-5-66. Free throw shooting: 5 of 9 for 56 percent. Field goal shooting: 27 of 47 for 57 percent. Turnovers: 13.
Blue Lion j-v team falls to Logan
The Washington Blue Lion j-v team lost to Logan Tuesday, 54-21.
Mitch Lotz and Gabe Arazo led the Blue Lions, each with seven points. Both players hit one three-point field goal.
Hayden Burke scored five points and Drew Moats had two for the Blue Lions.
Nolan Robinette led all scorers for Logan with 18 points.
Charlie Kline scored 10, Garrett Mace had six, Austin Thrapp had five, Colton Castle scored three and five players — Conner Ruff, Colton Ruff, Justin Wolfe, Zeke Mezlor and Logan Vincent — each chipped in two points.
