By Steve Robinson | December 15, 2009 - 10:57 pm
Posted in Category: Pekin Daily Times, U-High, Washington HS

BasketballNORMAL – The way Washington Community High head coach Kevin Brown saw things after his team’s performance at Normal University High Tuesday night, he knew going into the season he had a young team needing to mature.

The Panthers’ 55-36 victory over the Pioneers Tuesday night seemed to provide proof of the first steps Brown’s team may have taken to reach that maturity.

Normal U-High (4-5) jumped out to a fast 8-2 lead on baskets by Connor Brown, Eric Robb, and Mitch Styczynski. U-High ended the quarter on a 6-0 tear, thanks to a deuce each from Brady Knapp and Styczynski, and a pair of free throws by Kyle Morris, giving the Pioneers a 17-13 lead after one quarter.

The Pioneers continued that stretch with a three by Brown at 7:16 of the second quarter, extending the hosts’ lead 20-13.

At that point, U-High took a timeout, but it seemed it was the Panthers’ who began their growth lesson. Brown told them as they broke their huddle from that timeout, “you can do this!”

Washington High SchoolFrom that point, the Panthers went on a 10-0 run with deuces from Ben Ryan and Robert Izaguirre, a pair of free throws by Connor Underwood, a basket/single foul shot combo from Izaguirre, all topped off with a trey by Ryan Grebner, giving Washington a 23-20 lead with 3:29 until halftime. It was a lead Washington would not surrender. They managed to outscore U-High 19-6 in the second quarter and hold a 32-23 lead at halftime.

Washington (5-2) opened the third quarter with a 9-0 run – a pair of threes by Mark Roth followed by one from Grebner, to go up 41-25, before U-High’s Brown scored a trey of his own to stop the barrage, cutting Washington’s lead, 41-28. Brown would score a second three toward the end of the quarter, but Washington entered the fourth quarter with a 48-31 lead.

Washington outscored U-High 7-5 in the fourth quarter. The Washington fans in attendance gave their team a standing ovation as the final seconds ticked away.

“We were on the road in a tough environment, and we need to get tough and grow up,” the veteran Panthers coach told reporters after the game. “I told them that we needed to come out fighting and get aggressive. I saw we were passive (in the first quarter), but not bad – a typical young team on the road. We have talked a lot about being a team, and I thought that, from that point on, we really pulled together and fought through it.”

U-HighBrown said his team had two game plans – a primary attack and, if that started to falter, a secondary plan. He said the goal was to get U-High to speed up its game against their will.

Washington’s physical play, starting in the second quarter, “caught up to us,” admitted U-High head coach Bob Fitzgerald. “Kevin’s kids do a great job of getting up and pressuring the basketball, and dictating where you go on the offensive end.

“With about two minutes left in the first quarter, they picked up (their game) and we didn’t necessarily adjust as well as we should have.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 at 10:57 pm and is filed under Pekin Daily Times, U-High, Washington HS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

Comments are closed.