CHILLICOTHE — The Washington Blue Lions will be making a long-awaited trip to Athens to play in the Convocation Center next week following a 45-37 victory over the Unioto Shermans Friday night at Southeastern High School.

The Blue Lions (15-8) played an outstanding defensive game, limiting Unioto to 22 points through three quarters of play.

Washington had a balanced scoring attack, led by junior Garitt Leisure with 16 points.

Leisure was red hot to start, hitting four threes in the first quarter.

Senior Evan Upthegrove was next with 11 points.

Senior Richie Burns scored eight points, senior Blaise Tayese scored seven, junior Miguel O’Flaherty had three and senior Omar Porter scored one.

The Blue Lions won in spite of the fact that they made just half of their shots from the free throw line.

However, with 24 attempts, half is not really that bad, especially when Unioto was only 3 of 5 from the line.

Juniors Eli Lynch and Drew Moats also played for the Blue Lions.

Unioto sophomore Isaac Little led with 16 points.

Senior Chance Smith scored six and sophomore Cameron Debord had five points.

Washington will play in the District semifinals in Athens Thursday, Feb. 28 at 8 p.m. It will be the first time the Blue Lions have played in the Convo in 10 years.

They will play the winner of Fairfield Union/Marietta, a game that is to be played Saturday.

Also, the Washington Lady Blue Lions’ District championship game against Vinton County has been moved to Wednesday (from Thursday) at 7 p.m. at Southeastern High School.

Washington High School will have tickets on sale next week at the gym entrance between the hours of 8-11 a.m. and 1-3 p.m. Tickets for the District tournament games are $6 each and the school gets to keep 25 percent of the proceeds from the tickets it sells.

Also, it is believed that this is the first time that Washington’s boys and girls basketball teams have both been in the District tournament in the same season.

Also Friday night at Southeastern, the Waverly Tigers defeated the McClain Tigers in overtime on a last-second three-point shot, 67-66.

There will be more on Washington’s win over Unioto in Tuesday’s edition of the Record-Herald.

Washington senior Omar Porter drives the lane against Unioto in a Division II Sectional championship game Friday, Feb. 22, 2019 at Southeastern High School. Pictured for the Shermans are (l-r); junior Cade McKee, sophomore Isaac Little and sophomore Cameron Debord.

http://www.recordherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2019/02/web1_Omar-Porter-vs-Unioto-2-22-2019.jpgWashington senior Omar Porter drives the lane against Unioto in a Division II Sectional championship game Friday, Feb. 22, 2019 at Southeastern High School. Pictured for the Shermans are (l-r); junior Cade McKee, sophomore Isaac Little and sophomore Cameron Debord.