Dec 20, 2022 3 min read

CHARLEROI – It might not have been an aesthetically pleasing game, but Washington came away with a 63-42 win over Charleroi in Class 3A Section 4 boys basketball Tuesday night.

The teams combined for 61 turnovers, Charleroi finished with 33 and Washington 28, but first-year coach Ryan Bunting would rather his Prexies (2-0, 4-2) win the game ugly than win it pretty.

“It wasn’t pretty but it’s a win and every section win is important,” he said. “I thought we did some things defensively that I am pleased with as we had a lot of deflections and a lot of back taps.

“Those are things we work on and want to cause a lot of chaos on the offensive end for other teams.”

Charleroi coach Bill Wiltz knew his team had a massive mismatch on their hands size-wise, but he was proud of how his Cougars (1-1, 3-4) played.

“They are good, and we played as well as I thought we could,” said Wiltz. “If we had just a little more size, we may have been able to hang on the boards.

“Every time they missed, they got the offensive rebound and put it back in.”

Charleroi had no answer for Washington’s twin towers of 6-5 Brayce Patterson and 6-4 Davoun Fuse, a Rutgers football commit.

Patterson finished with game-highs of 23 points and 13 rebounds while Fuse had 11 rebounds and three blocked shots.

“We knew we had a height advantage and had to take advantage of it,” Bunting said. “There will be times where our perimeter and outside shots will fall, and we have to do a better job of getting into those places. But tonight, we wanted to go inside.”

Washington took a 13-7 lead after one quarter, although the teams combined for one fewer turnover (19) than points (20).

The play remained sluggish in the second quarter although the Prexies were able to open up a 31-16 lead at the half.

In the second, Charleroi turned the ball over 13 times and Washington eight times, giving the Cougars 23 at intermission and the Prexies 17.

The outcome was never in doubt in the second half and both teams were able to get younger players some quality time late in the game.

Even with the win, Bunting was disappointed in his team’s offensive effort, but he also gave Charleroi credit.

“We played a good team tonight and we will play other teams who are tough as well,” he said. “Our offensive execution was very poor. It has been solid the last three games, so this was a surprise to our staff. We were too casual with the ball.”

Wiltz said his young team made mistakes, but he also praised Washington.

“We made some turnovers, but they forced us into some turnovers that I think veterans would make,” he said. “They are so quick, their arms are long and they got some pressure on us.

“Our kids scrapped. You have a bunch of sub six-footers playing their hearts out.”

Both teams return to action in holiday tournaments as Charleroi hosts Frazier in its own tournament Tuesday while Washington plays South Park next Wednesday in the Monessen Tournament.