WASHINGTON CH — It’s not how you start that matters, but how you finish.

Unfortunately, that is the case for the Wilmington boys basketball team Tuesday in a 49-42 loss to Washington Senior in a battle of former South Central Ohio league rivals.

Despite holding a 25-22 lead at the intermission, the Hurricane was outscored by the undefeated Blue Lions in the second half, 27-17. The Blue Lions improved to 5-0 on the season while the Hurricane fall to 1-5.

“We have to play the third quarter with the same intensity like we do in the first half,” said WHS head coach Jaevin Cumberland after the contest. ”Our defense has to tighten up in the second half and we have to quit wasting good opportunities to keep the pressure up. When we learn to do that, we will be able to get more wins.”

In the third quarter, the momentum flipped to the Blue Lions after they scored a pair of field goals and Wilmington turned it over on four of their first five possessions.

The Blue Lions grabbed a 36-33 lead at the third quarter break. The same result, this time a 13-9 margin in the final period, sealed the Hurricane fate.Trailing 47-39 with just under one minute to play, Chase Fickert nailed a rainbow trey to cut the margin to 47-42, but those were the final points for the Hurricane.

Isaiah Haithcock led the Blue Lion surge with nine of his 15 points in the second half. Jon Wall added 14 points, seven in each half.

In a losing cause, Mikey Brown paced the Hurricane scoring attack with 12 points, Jayceon Kibler followed with 11 points, Fickert scored seven and Malachi Cumberland added six points.

“Like I told the kids in the locker room, everything we do is important … not turning it over, better passing and better shots and rebounding,” Cumberland said. “We have got to do a much better job everytime we handle the ball. Recently, we have been too careless and its hurting us.”

Wilmington will return to Fred Summers Court on Friday, hosting Dayton Carroll.

SUMMARY

Dec 19 2023

@Washington Senior High School

Blue Lions 49, Hurricane 42

WI^15^10^8^9^^42

WA^14^8^14^13^^49

(42) WILMINGTON (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Brown 4-1-3-12, Jackson 1-0-0-2, Fickert 3-1-0-7, Rickman 0-0-0-0, Platt 1-1-0-3, Morales 0-0-1-1, Cumberland 3-0-0-6, Kibler 5-1-0-11, Massie 0-0-0-0. TOTALS 14-4-4-42

(49) WASHINGTON (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Rickman 3-2-1-9, Wall 4-1-5-14, Miller 2-1-0-5, N. Haithcock 1-0-0-2, Tayese 1-1-1-4, I. Haithcock 5-1-4-15. TOTALS 16-6-11-49