Blue Lions beat Blanchester, 85-56

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The Washington Blue Lions hosted the Wildcats of Blanchester High School for a non-conference game Saturday, Jan. 29.

After a relatively close first half, the Blue Lions opened things up in the second and pulled away for an 85-56 victory.

The Blue Lions had four players reach double figures in scoring, led by junior Tanner Lemaster with 22 points. Lemaster made one three-point field goal. He had nine rebounds and blocked three shots.

Sophomore John Wall hit four threes and scored a total of 18 points. Wall had five assists and one steal.

Sophomore Isaiah Haithcock scored 12 points to go along with seven rebounds, two assists, four steals and one blocked shot.

Freshman Micah Brown scored 12 points, to which he added eight rebounds, six assists and four steals.

Junior Raleigh Haithcock scored eight points (hitting a pair of three-point field goals). He also had five assists and one steal.

Senior Reico Colter scored five points, grabbed two rebounds, had a team-high nine assists and two steals.

Sophomore Bryce Sipple led the Wildcats with 18 points. He had two three-point field goals. He had eight rebounds and three steals.

Senior Brison Lucas scored nine points and led his team with seven assists.

Senior Seth Akers scored nine points (with two threes).

Washington head coach Shannon Bartruff was pleased with his team’s offense Saturday night, as the Blue Lions posted the second-highest point total of the season. Washington scored 86 points in a season-opening win over Warren back on Nov. 27.

However, Bartruff was concerned about another aspect of his team.

“If you score 85 points, you’re going to be hard to beat,” Bartruff said. “But, we’re letting teams that are averaging in the 40’s to get out in the 50’s, the mid-50’s and the 60’s.

“When you shoot it well and you turn a team over and you probably have better athletes, you can get away with that,” Bartruff said. “You play McClain, you play Jackson, you play Unioto, you play Waverly, you play Warren, you play teams in our Sectional, you’re going to get beat.

“Teams are just spreading us out and attacking,” Bartruff said. “We’ve got the athletes to be able to sit down and guard. We’re just barely out of position and it’s costing us a lot of possessions.

“We had a lot of guys score the basketball tonight,” Bartruff said. “We did a better job defensively, in spurts; it’s just not consistent enough.

“I’m happy with the win, for sure,” Bartruff said. “We just have a long way to go.”

Washington (10-6 overall, 3-5 in the Frontier Athletic Conference) is back in action Tuesday against conference opponent Jackson with the j-v game starting at 6 p.m.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

W 17 20 25 23 — 85

B 14 17 14 11 — 56

WASHINGTON — Reico Colter 2-1-5; John Wall 3 (4)-0-18; Raleigh Haithcock 1 (2)-0-8; Garrett Rickman 0 (1)-0-3; Troy Thompson 1-1-3; Micah Brown 6-0-12; Coleden May 1-0-2; Tanner Lemaster 8 (1)-3-22; Isaiah Haithcock 5-2-12. TOTALS — 27 (8)-7-85. Free throw shooting: 7 of 13 for 54 percent. Three-point field goals: Wall, 4; R. Haithcock, 2; Rickman, Lemaster. Field goal shooting: 35 of 70 for 50 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 8 of 28 for 29 percent. Transition points: 15. Points off turnovers: 27. Second chance points: 19. Points in the paint: 44. Rebounds: 36 (14 offensive). Assists: 29. Steals: 14. Blocked shots: 4. Turnovers: 11. Personal fouls: 15. Charges taken: 1.

BLANCHESTER — Bryce Sipple 3 (2)-6-18; Brison Lucas 3-3-9; Nolan Wood 0-0-0; Seth Akers 1 (2)-1-9; Jacob Haun 0-0-0; Dylan Creager 1 (1)-0-5; Zach West 0 (1)-0-3; Justin Hogsett 2-0-4; Gabe McVey 4-0-8; Evan Malott 0-0-0. TOTALS — 14 (6)-10-56. Free throw shooting: 10 of 14 for 71 percent. Three-point field goals: Sipple, 2; Akers, 2; Creager, West. Field goal shooting: 20 of 44 for 45 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 6 of 16 for 38 percent. Transition points: 2. Points off turnvoers: 9. Second chance points: 0. Points in the paint: 26. Rebounds: 26 (5 offensive). Assists: 11. Steals: 5. Blocked shots: 0. Turnovers: 23. Personal fouls: 20. Charges taken: 0.

Washington High School junior Troy Thompson (left) puts up a shot over Blanchester senior Seth Akers during a non-conference game at Washington High School Saturday, Jan. 29, 2022.
https://www.recordherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2022/01/web1_Troy-Thompson-vs-Blanchester-Jan-29-2022.jpgWashington High School junior Troy Thompson (left) puts up a shot over Blanchester senior Seth Akers during a non-conference game at Washington High School Saturday, Jan. 29, 2022. Chris Hoppes | Record-Herald

By Chris Hoppes

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