Washington powers Margaretta past PC By BRIAN KOLLARS briankollars@sanduskyregister.com PORT CLINTON — The final seconds of the first half were ticking away when Julian Washington flashed across the lane, faked a back cut and took a pass from Keiygan Morris. Washington took a step, rose up and dunked the basketball to cap a 13-2 Margaretta run and propel the Polar Bears to a 68-44 win over Port Clinton in an early-season matchup of unbeaten teams Thursday. “We knew that they were gonna overplay it so I set up a backdoor pass and me and Keiygan were on the same page and he hit me in the middle of the floor and I went up and dunked it,” Washington said. “It was perfectly executed. Coaches told us what to do and we got it done.” Washington led Margaretta with 26 points before checking out the game for good with eight seconds left in the third quarter. At the time, Washington’s point total matched PC’s score. “We knew he might be open (on the last play of the half), but we didn’t know it would result in a dunk,” Margaretta coach Steve Keller said. “Julian set it up with a hard cut and a back door to the rim. “He can score buckets and he got going tonight.” Margaretta improved to 4-0 overall and 1-0 in the Sandusky Bay Conference Bay Division while the Redskins dropped to 3-1, 0-1. PC coach Jared Rhode knew what his team was up against with Washington and the rest of the talented Polar Bears. “I’m proud of our guys; I think we’re gonna win a lot of basketball games,” Rhode said. “They’re by far and away the best team in our area and I don’t think it’s even close. “We’ll continue to get better. We competed tonight in spots and competed better than we did last year. Hopefully we can stack some wins together and keep moving this program in the right direction.” After Margaretta’s flurry to end the first half, Washington went on a 9-0 run himself to give the Bears a 46-19 lead three minutes into the third quarter. The 6-foot-4 senior bound for the University of Dayton next year started the run with a 3-pointer. Seconds later, Judah Keller made a steal and passed up a layup to feed Washington for an alley-oop dunk. Washington then added a layup off a turnover and ended his 85-second run with a fast break layup. “I’ve told people, in my opinion, in this immediate area he’s the best player in the last 25 or 30 years,” Rhode said. “People kind of look at me a little wide-eyed and they question that. I say ‘name one better.’ Nobody can. He’s really good and he’s a great kid. It’s kind of neat to get to watch him play. I just wish it wasn’t against our guys.” Washington was 11 for 16 from the field. PC got within 10-7 on a Landon Leis layup with 2:22 left in the first quarter before Margaretta answered with a 12-0 run that started and ended with Keller buckets. The Redskins didn’t go away, though, rattling off eight straight points to pull within 22-15 on a Zach Speer basket. The Polar Bears then took control with their run before halftime. “I thought the key to the game was the last four minutes of the second quarter,” Keller said. “We just settled in and guarded and were able to get stops. If we get stops we can go in transition. Obviously it’s nice to finish with an explosive dunk at the end of the half.” Keller finished with 10 points for Margaretta, which hosts Oak Harbor on Saturday. The physical senior guard is wearing a mask to protect his broken nose. Tyson Bailey was solid with eight points and eight rebounds and 10 Polar Bears dented the scoring column. In the first half, Margaretta outrebounded the Redskins 20-6. “The rebounding was huge because they’ve got two big posts,” coach Keller said. “We rebounded it well and had a little bit of physicalness about us with boxouts and keeping guys off the glass. We set the tone in the first half.” Nine Redskins scored in a game in which the starters sat most of the fourth quarter. Payton Meade came off the bench to lead PC with eight points including a pair of late 3-pointers. Jonny Peck and Speer each finished with seven points. PC’s leading scorer, sophomore guard Grayson Jones, was limited to two points. Washington got the assignment to guard him most of the way. “He was a focal point,” coach Keller said. “We guarded him with some length and when we got mismatched, our guards did a nice job with him." The Redskins visit Bellevue on Saturday. MARGARETTA (4-0) Kale Bailey 2 2-2 6, Keiygan Morris 2 0-0 5, Julian Washington 11 2-2 26, Judah Keller 4 2-2 10, Tyson Bailey 4 0-0 8, Jake Bouy 0 1-2 1, Jaxson Bohn 1 0-1 2, Rob Cox 2 0-0 6, Tyler Johnson 1 0-0 2, Gavin Berg 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 28 7-9 68 PORT CLINTON (3-1) Grayson Jones 1 0-0 2, Martez Wilson 1 0-0 2, Jonny Peck 3 0-2 7, Landon Leis 3 0-1 6, Zach Speer 3 1-1 7, Tre Armendariz 1 0-0 2, Derek Abernathy 2 0-0 5, Danny Baker 2 0-0 5, Payton Meade 3 0-0 8. TOTALS 19 1-4 44 Margaretta 18 17 20 13 — 68 Port Clinton 7 10 9 18 — 44 Three-point goals: Margaretta 5 (Washington 2, Cox 2, Morris); Port Clinton 5 (Meade 2, Peck, Abernathy, Baker) Video Highlights: Click Here