Washington boys unable to overcome a rough start in Kansas 5A quarterfinal loss

It was a ominous sign that Washington High School’s boys basketball team was nowhere in sight during a four-minute shoot-around during halftime of the preceding game on Thursday at the Kansas Class 5A state tournament.

Whether or not it had an effect on the Wildcats’ 67-53 loss to Bishop Carroll in a quarterfinal game is up for debate.

“We were told we couldn’t shoot around,” Washington coach Eric King said. “We just came for the game. I guess we should have got here an hour earlier. But that wouldn’t have made a difference.”

In the first quarter, Washington was out of sync at both ends of the floor and fell behind 21-5 late in the period.

“They came out and jumped on us,” King said. “They are a good team. They play hard and they play well together. That’s the bottom line.”

Washington, which finished the year 18-5, spent the rest of the game trying to make up that huge deficit.

The Wildcats went into halftime trailing 36-22. The closest Washington got to Bishop Carroll was a 43-35 deficit late in the third quarter. Bishop Carroll responded with a three-point play and led by double digits the rest of the way.

The Bishop Carroll player who hurt Washington the most was senior forward Connor Evans, who went 10-for-11 from the field and scored 24 points in the first half.

“The one kid (Evans) went to work for them,” King said. “It was a tough match-up for us.”

This story was originally published March 12, 2015 at 7:56 PM with the headline "Washington boys unable to overcome a rough start in Kansas 5A quarterfinal loss."