Wash High catches Beaver Falls with guards down
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Washington’s Tayshawn Levy battles past Beaver Falls’ Mekhi Clark.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Washington's Tayshawn Levy powers past Beaver Falls defender Tyler Cain.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Washington's Brandon Patterson works over top of Beaver Falls' Mekhi Clark as the Prexies defeated the Tigers in the first round of the WPIAL playoffs.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Tayshawn Levy eyes a layup all the way to the hoop as he helps build the Prexies' first half lead over the visiting Beaver Falls Tigers.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Washington’s Carlos Harper goes up against Beaver Falls’ Trey Singleton.
The first round of the WPIAL playoffs, in multiple sports, has not been kind to teams from Washington High School in recent years. Puzzling early exits have been more the rule than the exception for the Prexies.
That includes a first-round loss to Laurel for the boys basketball team, on Wash High’s home court, in last year’s open tournament.
Determined not to experience another first-round flop, Washington played one good half of basketball and then held on through a messy turnover-filled second half for a 57-45 victory over Beaver Falls in a Class 3A opening round contest Monday night at the Wash High gymnasium.
The win sends Washington (17-2), the No. 6 seed, into the quarterfinals Thursday night against No. 3 Shady Side Academy (16-6), a 68-28 winner over Laurel. The time and site will be determined today.
“I’ll fall back on my English teacher background and quote Charles Dickens, and say this game was the best of halves, and it was the worst of halves,” Wash High coach Ron Faust said. “We were horrible in the second half. We stopped playing.”
But the first half was good enough for the Prexies to forge a commanding lead. Washington led 16-4 after one quarter, 26-6 midway through the second quarter and cruised into halftime ahead 30-13.
“I told our guys at halftime that if we can lead 30-13 at halftime, then they can do the same thing to us in the second half. We get satisfied with our performance – we can’t make them understand our performance. Consistency has been our big problem.”
In the first half, Washington’s Tayshawn Levy scored 13 of his game-high 22 points, and the Prexies’ full-court press and half-court zone defense caused all kinds of problems for a Beaver Falls team that was playing without three of its guards. The Tigers (10-11) committed 13 turnovers in the first half and made just one of eight three-point shots, that a banked-in shot by Xavier Collins as the halftime buzzer sounded.
“We played a point guard who never played point guard before,” Beaver Falls coach Carliss Jeter said. “But we make no excuses. They outplayed us. We shot 5-for-25 in the first half. You can’t win shooting like that.”
That basket gave Beaver Falls some momentum and the Tigers opened the second half with another three-pointer by Collins. Though given a spark, Beaver Falls didn’t have enough offense in the quarter to fuel a comeback. A 15-foot jumper and fast-break layup by Washington’s Carlos Harper, and four consecutive points by Brandon Patterson, who finished with 12, put the Prexies up 42-20 late in the quarter.
For all the good things the Prexies did early in the game, they struggled mightily in the fourth quarter when they were outscored 24-13. Washington finished with an alarming 26 turnovers, 15 coming in the second half.
Beaver Falls closed to within 50-40 with 2:02 remaining. The Tigers’ Jaren Brickner, who was held scoreless for three quarters, scored all 10 of his points in the final eight minutes.
“The playoffs have been an issue for this group of athletes,” Faust pointed out. “It happened in football last year, it happened in basketball last year. I don’t know why guys don’t get excited about playoff games. In the past, we’ve had teams make a legacy for themselves in the playoffs.”
Washington finally secured the win by making five free throws and Levy capped his big night with a layup that made it 57-40.
Davon Fuse had two free throws in the late 7-0 run. The Prexies’ center finished with eight points, a game-high 14 rebounds and four blocked shots.
“We have some talented players,” Faust said. “If we can just get our point across about how talented they can be. I don’t want this to be their threshold.
“If you want to be relevant in the playoffs, then you have to win when you you play poorly. I would put this game in that category.”