The Washington Blue Lion varsity basketball team hosted the Warriors from Adena High School for their home-opener before a good-sized crowd on the day after Thanksgiving.

Washington capitalized on a good start to the game and led most of the way for a 72-52 victory.

The Blue Lions had four players in double figures and two more with eight points in a well-balanced scoring attack.

Senior Tanner Lemaster shared top scoring honors with Adena junior Joedy Ater, each with 18 points.

Junior Isaiah Haithcock scored 13 points, junior John Wall had 11 points and senior Raleigh Haithcock scored 10 for Washington.

Senior Brayden May and junior Garrett Rickman both scored eight points for the Blue Lions.

Senior Michael Bearden and junior Gabe Tayese both added two points for Washington.

Senior Davis Kerns scored 16 for the Warriors and junior Bryson Smith had 11.

Washington took a 21-8 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Blue Lions held a solid 39-19 lead at the halftime break.

The Warriors had a very good start to the third quarter with a 10-0 run to cut Washington’s lead in half, down to 10 at 39-29.

The Blue Lions put their first points of the second half in the books with 3:28 to play in the third quarter, a three-point field goal by Isaiah Haithcock.

Lemaster made one free throw and Isaiah Haithcock scored again for a 6-0 run for Washington to increase the lead to 45-29.

The Blue Lions led by 17 after three, 51-34.

A 13-3 run by Washington extended the home team’s lead to a game-high 27 points, 66-39.

The Blue Lions began to take their starters out in the final minutes on the way to the 72-52 victory.

“We played hard,” Washington head coach Shannon Bartruff said. “Adena’s not the easiest match-up for us because they have a lot of guards, a lot of kids who are good athletes who can put the ball on the floor and get to the paint.

“We did a good job of just switching their actions,” Bartruff said. “We could still be better on defense. We ended up giving up 52 points, some slop points there at the end. Overall I was happy with our effort.

“I thought we moved the ball really well on offense,” Bartruff said. “We can always do a better job of taking care of the basketball and not giving up some offensive rebounds to them.

“I thought we did a good job in transition,” Bartruff said. “We made some good choices in the half-court for the most part. It was nice to get four guys in double figures.

“It’s a good team win for us,” Bartruff said. “We just have to continue to get better. Our best basketball is ahead of us. We’ve probably only practiced with our football players and everyone healthy six or seven times.

“We have to get ready for (Fairfield) on Tuesday,” Bartruff said. “They’re going to come in here ready to go.”

Unofficially, Washington shot 30 of 57 from the field for 53 percent.

Washington (2-0) will host the Lions of Fairfield High School Tuesday. The freshman game tips at 4:45 p.m.

In other games involving Frontier Athletic Conference teams Friday, Wilmington defeated Hillsboro, 54-50 and Chillicothe beat Hamilton Township, 56-51.

Blue Lions win j-v game with Warriors

The Washington Blue Lion j-v team improved to 1-1 on the season with a 40-39 win over Adena Friday night.

Jacob Lindsey was the game’s leading scorer for Washington with 18 points.

Gage Merritt scored 11 for the Blue Lions, Javin Baker scored five, Jakob Hoosier and Logan Clevenger both had two points.

Lucas King led Adena with nine points.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

W 21 18 12 21 — 72

A 8 11 15 18 — 52

WASHINGTON — Garrett Rickman 1 (2)-0-8; John Wall 4 (1)-0-11; Michael Bearden 1-0-2; Brayden May 1 (2)-0-8; Raleigh Haithcock 2 (2)-0-10; Gabe Tayese 0-2-2; Tanner Lemaster 8-2-18; Isaiah Haithcock 5 (1)-0-13. TOTALS — 22 (8)-4-72. Free throw shooting: 4 of 8 for 50 percent. Three-point field goals: Rickman, 2; R. Haithcock, 2; May, 2; Wall, I. Haithcock. Field goal shooting: 30 of 57 for 53 percent.

ADENA — Easton Hennes 2-0-4; Andrew Vickers 1-0-2; Lucas King 0-1-1; Davis Kerns 2 (4)-0-16; Ryan Richendollar 0-0-0; Joedy Ater 7-4-18; Bryson Smith 5-1-11; Caleb Osborne 0-0-0. TOTALS — 17 (4)-6-52. Free throw shooting: 6 of 12 for 50 percent. Three-point field goals: Kerns, 4.