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Washington leads ICC vs. Lincoln Land
Freshman's 21 points helps Cougars notch 76-53 win at the Lo-Ram
January 10, 2009
By BO RYAN
Reprinted with permission of the Journal Star
The 5-foot-10 freshman guard from Manual had a nearly perfect Saturday in ICC's 76-53 Mid-West Athletic Conference win over Lincoln Land Community College at Lorene Ramsey Gym.
Washington missed just one of seven shots, made all four of his 3-pointers, and all five of his free throws in scoring a game-high 21 points. He also had four assists, did not commit a foul and lost the ball once in a touch over 17 minutes of play.
His minutes may be limited by coach Tony Wysinger's 'play everybody' approach, still, Washington's 13 first-half points helped ignite a Cougars surge that led to a 39-27 lead at intermission. He then came off the bench in the second half to help squash any idea of a Lincoln Land rally and help calm an ICC team outscored 12-2 to start the final 20 minutes.
Washington's second half play helped the Cougars turn a two-point lead with 14:04 left to a 53-40 advantage at 9:38. ICC (11-6, 1-2) led 70-50 when Washington came out of the game with 1:37 left to play.
'One of the things we did because we gave up so many points and missed so many layups in our last two games was shake up the lineup,' Wysinger said. 'Before the game it was just John and me and he asked ‘Did I do something wrong?'
'Understand that John had been our backup point guard and when we move someone out of the point he's thinking ‘I should be the guy.'
'I said, ‘John, you bring so much coming off the bench in the ability to score and run the team I think that is where you will help us out the most.' '
Washington entered a back-and-forth game about seven minutes into the contest and helped turn an 11-8 ICC deficit into a 16-15 lead at 11:11. Later, with LL trailing 24-23, he was part of a 15-2 spurt highlighted by his 3 with 14 ticks left that gave Cougars a 39-23 lead.
The victory snapped a two-game losing streak for the Cougars. They shot 59.1 percent for the game, made 17 of 19 free throws and forced 21 turnovers.
'We were within two points there is the second half with a chance to tie,' said LL coach Chad Jones, a Canton native. 'Then (the lead) goes from two to 12 in about two minutes all based on one or two stupid decisions and transition buckets.
'The thing that ICC does is that they pressure you so much and if you don't have good guard play you're in trouble.'
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