Behind a strong offensive second half and balanced scoring, the home team Washington School Generals soundly defeated the Indianola Academy Colonels 61-43 in high school basketball action Monday night.
Washington took command of the game in the opening minutes of the third quarter. Senior guard Joseph Smith drained consecutive corner three pointers to give the Generals a quick 24-16 lead in the opening minute.
On their next possession, they fed the post to big man Tylar Sherdon who bullied his way to a bucket on the low block to which, the Generals crowd yelled at IA defenders, “you’re too little!”
“I hope that this is what you’ll see from us consistently night in and night out,” said Generals head coach David Rounsavall. “We’ve got several players capable of scoring and this makes it hard for defenses to key on one or two guys.”
The Colonels kept the game within range thanks to the sharp shooting of Peyton Powell and Joel Rayner from beyond the arc. Washington led 40-37 heading into the final quarter
Smith and John Chandler Lyles made consecutive threes off the glads at the three minute mark of the fourth quarter to put the game on ice.
They led 54-37 at that point. And for good measure, Aiden Jones banked in a three two possessions later.Both teams found an offensive rhythm in the second quarter after combining for only 15 points in the first frame. “We didn’t do anything different in the second quarter other than start attacking the gaps in their defense,” Rounsavall said.
“With this being only our second game, hopefully, we’ll start feeding the high post and running our offense from their where guys will be more likely to take good shots.” Indianola Academy extended to a 14-10 lead early in the second quarter on back to back Peyton Powell three point shots.
The Generals answered with a Kell Hodges three pointer and a sweet bounce pass from Hodges to Peyton McPherson to take a 15-14 lead with 3:45 remaining until halftime. The Generals clung to an 18-16 lead at the half.
