Washington senior Garrett Rickman takes the ball to the basket on a fast-break during a Frontier Athletic Conference game at McClain High School Friday, Jan. 26, 2024. Also pictured are seniors John Wall of Washington and Seth Weller of McClain.
Chris Hoppes | Record-Herald
GREENFIELD — The Washington Blue Lions were looking to stay on the heels of the Miami Trace Panthers in the chase for the Frontier Athletic Conference championship when they visited historic McClain High School to take on the Tigers Friday, Jan. 26.
Back on Dec. 15, Washington hosted McClain and won that game, 68-36.
On Friday, Washington started strong and went on to post a 55-34 victory.
Washington raises its record to 11-2 overall, 6-1 in the FAC.
McClain falls to 4-13 overall, 0-8 in the conference.
Miami Trace had a close encounter at Jackson Friday night, coming away with a 42-38 victory. The Panthers stay undefeated in the FAC at 8-0; they are 12-4 overall.
For the Blue Lions, senior Garrett Rickman was the game’s leading scorer Friday with 22 points. He also pulled down six rebounds, had two assists, three steals and one blocked shot.
Senior Gabe Tayese scored 11 for Washington, with eight rebounds, one assist and one blocked shot.
Senior Isaiah Haithcock scored eight points and led the Blue Lions with nine rebounds. He had one assist, one steal and two blocked shots.
Senior John Wall and junior Will Miller each scored seven points. Wall had five rebounds, three assists and one steal and Miller had two assists and one steal.
Sophomore Noah Haithcock had four rebounds, two assists, three steals and he blocked four McClain shot attempts.
For the Tigers, they were led by the senior duo of Seth Weller and Andrew Potts, each with 12 points.
Freshman Michael Noszka Jr. scored six points for the Tigers, junior Riley Cummins and sophomore Jordan Bell both chipped in two points.
Tayese hit the first basket of the game, to which Weller responded.
Washington then took off on a 9-0 run, with a trey by Rickman, then a steal and layup by Rickman, followed by another bucket from Tayese, then a basket from Isaiah Haithcock.
It was 11-2, Blue Lions with three-and-a-half minutes to play in the first quarter.
Weller scored for McClain and after an answer from Rickman, the Tigers proceeded to score six successive points to pull the home team back to within three at 13-10, which was the score at the end of the first quarter.
Both teams shot the ball well in the first quarter, unofficially 55 percent for Washington (6 of 11) to 44 percent for McClain (4 of 9).
The Blue Lions were able to sustain this momentum through the second quarter, while the Tigers cooled somewhat before a large crowd in the warm gym on a mild, late-January evening.
McClain struck first in the second quarter, Potts again converting a layup. That drew the Tigers to within one, at 13-12.
Miller and Wall hit back-to-back threes on consecutive trips down the floor.
Miller and Tayese scored for the Blue Lions and Weller made the final basket of the half. As the teams headed to their respective locker rooms, Washington held a 28-16 lead.
After dozens of Greenfield kids joined the McClain cheerleaders on the court for several rousing, enthusiastic minutes of cheers for the Tigers during the halftime break, it was time to resume the action.
In the third quarter the Blue Lions continued playing well defensively and were able to open a lead of as many as 16 and then, finally, 18 points, which put the visitors in front, 40-22, going into the final eight minutes.
Washington completed the game by winning the fourth quarter, 15-12, leading a couple of times by as many as 20 points before the final old-fashioned three-point play by Tayese established the final score of 55-34.
“I felt like we dominated the entire game,” Washington head coach Shannon Bartruff said. “They made a little bit of a run.
“I’m proud of the effort,” Bartruff said. “We haven’t played in two weeks (a 62-54 home win over Chillicothe on Jan. 12).
“We came out (with) a hot start,” Bartruff said. “I thought for the most part we played really good defense. We didn’t give up any threes the whole night. They shoot the ball way better here than they do most places.
“The Weller kid is tough, he’s been playing really well,” Bartruff said. “We did a pretty good job on (Weller and Andrew Potts).
“Offensively, we took way too many threes in the first half,” Bartruff said. “We made a couple and then fell in love with it.
“They couldn’t guard us off the bounce and we tried to (emphasize that) more in the second half,” Bartruff said. “We got out and ran in transition and we did a good job.
“Gabe Tayese got his first start tonight and I thought he was great,” Bartruff said. “He normally gives us energy off the bench. I thought he did a good job.
“I thought Will did a good job off the bench, too,” Bartruff said. “Noah’s been solid for us. I’m always asking John to handle the ball, get us into our offense, score the ball, and, ‘oh, by the way, I need you to guard the other team’s best player.’ He did a great job (guarding Seth Weller).
“Isaiah was huge on the glass,” Bartruff said. “He’s been huge on the glass all year. He’s got five or six double-doubles. He’s probably averaging around 15 points and 10 rebounds a game.”
McClain head coach Michael Noszka is seeing improvement in his team.
“The kids are getting better,” Noszka said. “From an effort standpoint, not just tonight on the court, but, preparation, practice time. (Washington) scored 68 points against us (in the first meeting). Tonight we had 10 turnovers, by our count.
“We’ve got to make shots,” Noszka said. “We didn’t shoot the ball very well. We had some guys turning down some open ones. Sometimes you have to step in and take the challenge and knock some shots down. We’ll get back after that.
“Overall, we did more things well,” Noszka said. “We still need to do some better things. Guys like Andrew and Owen (Sykes) and Jayden (Allison) were in there battling to keep their bigs off the boards. Some of our guards need to do a better job of getting in there and getting some defensive rebounds.
“We’ll go from here,” Noszka said. “It’s getting late in the season, but we’ll keep fighting.”
Washington is back in action hosting the Zane Trace Pioneers Tuesday at 6 p.m. and the Miami Trace Panthers Saturday, Feb. 3 at 6 p.m.
There will be even more Purple and Gold than usual at McClain High School when the Tigers host the Unioto Shermans Tuesday at 6 p.m.
In one other FAC game Friday, it was Hillsboro over Chillicothe, 49-35.
The FAC standings after Friday’s games: Miami Trace, 8-0; Washington, 6-1; Hillsbor0, 4-3; Jackson, 4-4; Chillicothe, 1-7; McClain, 0-8.
In remaining FAC games, Miami Trace is at Washington on Feb. 3 and home against Hillsboro on Feb. 13.
Washington plays at Hillsboro on Feb. 8 and at Jackson on Feb. 13.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
W 13 15 12 15 — 55
Mc 10 6 6 12 — 34
WASHINGTON — Garrett Rickman 8 (2)-0-22; John Wall 1 (1)-2-7; Will Miller 2 (1)-0-7; Noah Haithcock 0-0-0; Gabe Tayese 5-1-11; Isaiah Haithcock 4-0-8. TOTALS — 20 (4)-3-55. Free throw shooting: 3 of 6 for 50 percent. Three-point field goals: Rickman, 2; Wall, Miller. Field goal shooting: 24 of 50 for 48 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 4 of 22 for 18 percent. Turnovers: 8. Rebounds: 31 (10 offensive). Blocked shots: 7. Assists: 11. Steals: 9.
McCLAIN — Michael Noszka Jr. 1-4-6; Riley Cummins 1-0-2; Jordan Bell 0-2-2; Seth Weller 6-0-12; Owen Sykes 0-0-0; Jayden Allison 0-0-0; Andrew Potts 6-0-12. TOTALS — 14-6-34. Free throw shooting: 6 of 7 for 86 percent. Three-point field goals: none. Field goal shooting: 14 of 40 for 35 percent. Turnovers: 9.
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Washington wins j-v game with McClain
The Blue Lions edged the Tigers in the j-v game Friday, 35-33.
McClain’s Clayton Gibson was the game’s leading scorer with 13 points. He made one three-point field goal.
Bryson Heath led Washington with eight points. He connected for a pair of three-point shots.
Javin Baker and Jeston Everhart both scored seven for Washington. Everhart made one three.
Aden Osborne and Cooper Robertson each had five points and C.J. Davis scored three.
Also for McClain, Trey Evans had nine points, Brynnen Babbs scored eight points, Leiland Bond had two and Julien Evans had one.
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Blue Lions beat Tigers in freshman match-up
In Friday’s freshman game, Washington topped McClain, 31-21.
Evan Wilson of Washington was the game’s leading scorer with 14 points. He made one three-point basket.
Also for the Blue Lions, Aden Osborne scored five, Kiontae Tyree had four points, and a quartet of players — Austin Hughes, Quinton Marine, Xavier Malone and Cayden Dossenbach — each scored two points.
For the Tigers, Noah Switzer, Logan Knisley and Elijah Storer each scored six points. Knisley’s points came on a pair of threes.
Charlie Gibson made one three and finished with three points for McClain.
