Washington Boys Basketball

Cold-shooting Warriors fall at North Scott

ELDRIDGE - Washington shot 21 percent from the field and was routed by north Scott, 50-32, Saturday in a boys basketball game.

The Warriors (0-2) made only 9 of 42 shots. Jason Oney was high scorer with seven points.

North Scott was led by Grant Graham's 13 points. Freshman Cortez Seale added 12 points.

WASHINGTON (32): Montaves Anderson 0 1-2 1, David Tann 0 1-2 1, Brock Butterfield 1-2 0-0 3, Austin Bergstrom 2 0-0 5, Cyb Moa 1 2-2 5, Peter Holmes 1 1-2 3, David Rosenthal 1 1-4 3, Jason Oney 3 0-0 7, Noah Burdt 0 0-0 0, Heath Clark 0 2-2 2, Sam Bil 0 0-0 0, Jacob Kramer 0 0-0 0, Paul Nash 0 2-2 2, Zachari Williams 0 0-0 0. Totals 9 10-16 32.

NORTH SCOTT (50): Ben Wilson 2 2-4 6, Brandon Fleetwood 1 0-0 3, Eric Huber 0 1-2 1, Jordan Arp 2 1-1 6, Cortez Seales 5 2-4 12, Noah Gumpert 1 1-3 3, Sam Hawley 0 0-0 0, Grant Graham 3 6-8 13, Creighton Claussen 2 0-2 4, Brandon Lafrenz 0 2-4 2. Totals 16 15-28 50.

Halftime -- North Scott 26, Washington 13. 3-point goals - Washington 4 (Butterfield, Bergstrom, Moa, Oney), North Scott 3 (Fleetwood, Arp, Graham). Fouls - Washington 25, North Scott 19. Fouled out - Holmes.

Warriors struggle in 49-29 loss to Bettendorf

No Oglesby, no Washpun, no offense.

There wasn't much of anything for the Cedar Rapids Washington boys basketball team Friday night.

The Warriors scored six points in the first half and dropped their season opener to Bettendorf, 49-29, in a choppy game at the Washington gym.

Washington played in the Class 4A state tournament the last two years with Josh Oglesby and Wes Washpun leading the way, but Oglesby is playing for Iowa now and Washpun is playing for Tennessee. The Warriors struggled in their first game without them.

"It's part of growing up, part of moving forward and guys having to do more things. And that's the way it is," Washington Coach Brad Metzger remarked.

The Warriors struggled in every facet of the game. They struggled with their shooting, rebounding, ballhandling, passing and too often on defense.

Metzger used 15 players, including 11 in the first quarter, searching for production. He found little.

Washington scored four points in the first quarter, then scored only two points in the second quarter and trailed 20-6 at intermission. It was not a slowdown, just poor basketball.

The Warriors took some wild shots, made careless passes, neglected to box out at times, missed some relatively easy shots and generally struggled to get anything done.

Jason Oney led Washington with five points. Montaves "Mo Mo" Anderson, a 5-foot-8 sophomore, gave the Warriors a little spark off the bench with four points, four rebounds and some quick moves. Oney and Anderson were the only Warriors with two field goals.

None of Washington's starters scored more than three points. Sean Bredl started and grabbed five rebounds in the first half, but sprained his ankle and did not play in the second half.

Tom Dunlavy led Bettendorf (1-0) with 10 points.

Metzger said he may continue to use a lot of players, trying to force the tempo in Washington's favor.

"Maybe we need to play a little faster, play a little harder, get people tired," he said. "The bottom line, there's a lot of parity (on the Washington team).

"We need to keep plugging away with these boys, giving them some time on the floor to get comfortable. There's a lot going on in their minds, a lot of first games for people.

"If we can play some solid defense and let our offense come around, eventually we may be able to hang around some games and get a little better as time goes on," he said.

BETTENDORF (49): Cole Clearman 4 0-0 8, Lucas Rollinger 2 0-0 5, Tom Dunlavy 4 2-3 10, Michael Moore 2 0-0 4, Alex Graupman 1 0-0 2, David Cribbs 1 0-0 2, Kendall Jacks 1 0-0 2, Kris Klabunde 1 1-2 3, Dylan Sortillo 3 0-0 8, Nate Nelson 0 0-0 0, Lukas Harksen 0 1-2 1, Nick Scott 0 2-2 2, Austin Bries 0 0-0 0, Jared Brown 1 0-0 2. Totals 20 6-11 49.

WASHINGTON (29): David Tann 1 0-0 3, Austin Bergstrom 0 1-2 1, Cybryan Moa 1 0-0 2, David Rosenthal 1 1-2 3, Sean Bredl 1 0-0 2, Heath Clark 1 0-0 2, Sam Bil 0 0-0 0, Jason Oney 2 0-0 5, Peter Holmes 0 2-2 2, Montaves Anderson 2 0-0 4, Paul Nash 1 0-0 2, Brock Butterfield 0 2-4 2, Jacob Kramer 0 0-0 0, Zachary Williams 0 0-0 0, Noah Burdt 0 1-2 1. Totals 10 7-12 29.

Halftime - Bettendorf 20, Washington 6. 3-point goals - Bettendorf 3 (Sortillo 2, Rollinger 1), Washington 2 (Tann 1, Oney 1).

Warriors embrace life after Oglesby, Washpun

Josh Oglesby and Wes Washpun led Cedar Rapids Washington last season in scoring, rebounding, assists, steals, blocked shots and eye-popping maneuvers.

In other words, they did it all.

Brad Metzger could coach another 50 years and not find another pair like them, but he's not feeling sorry for himself. In fact, he welcomes the challenge of life after Josh and Wes.

"I'm definitely not feeling sorry for myself. That's the furthest thing from the truth," he said.

Oglesby has found a new home with the Iowa Hawkeyes and scored 16 points Thursday against Northern Illinois with four 3-pointers, his speciality. Washpun is a freshman at Tennessee, where he has played in four of the Volunteer's first five games, including 19 minutes against Duke.

They put on a terrific show for the Warriors during their careers, but that show has closed and Metzger is trying to produce another successful version. The Warriors don't have show-stoppers, but they may have more depth than they did a year ago when they finished 17-9.

"We may be able to play a lot more people, which means the competition and competitive drive is pretty high right now," Metzger said. "So it makes for a good practice."

Sean Bredl, Cyb Moa and David Tann started for Washington in the quarterfinals of the Class 4A state tournament last March against Linn-Mar and are back this year as seniors. Bredl averaged 4.9 points and 4.1 rebounds last season, making him the top returning player in both categories.

Moa averaged 3.9 points last year, but none of the other returning players averaged more than two points per game. Metzger is not sure where the scoring will come from this season.

"Probably 10 different guys," he said.

McCauley Todd played in all 26 games last season and started two contests, so he returns with a good deal of experience. Heath Clark, Paul Nash, Jason Oney, Brock Butterfield, Zachary Williams, Austin Bergstrom, David Rosenthal and Peter Holmes all got a taste of the action last season as well.

Oglesby and Washpun raised the bar fairly high for Washington the last two seasons with back-to-back trips to the state tournament. Now it's up to the next group to keep it going. Metzger hopes the success Oglesby and Washpun enjoyed will rub off on this year's team.

"I think any kid dreams about competing at a high level in a big arena with a lot of fans," Metzger said. "They want to work a little harder in the offseason and they want to shoot a little more. We had a great offseason because of that."

Metzger doesn't know if the Warriors have the talent to make the state tournament for the third straight year, but he's not going to rule it out.

"The more you do it, the more you expect it, the more you want to be back there as a team," he said. "Regardless of who's playing and who's not, it becomes personal goals and team goals to do certain things."

The Warriors might have a secret ingredient this season, something not evident on a stat sheet.

"We have a lot of guys that we put on the floor that have around 4.0 GPAs," Metzger said. "So we're a high achieving team in the classroom, and honestly that spills over.

"They can conceptualize a lot of what I'm doing so we will be able to make a lot of adjustments and changes and do a lot of things during the course of the year."

Oglesby could play point guard for Hawkeyes

IOWA CITY - Josh Oglesby eats breakfast now and has gained 18 pounds since classes began at the University of Iowa, so that's a big change.

Here's another: Oglesby could become a point guard with the Hawkeyes after starring as a shooting guard at Cedar Rapids Washington.

Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said he's thinking about giving Oglesby a shot at the position this season.

"A little bit, yeah. I feel like he can play point," McCaffery said Thursday afternoon during media day activities at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

"I don't want to take him too far away from his strength, which is obviously shooting the ball and playing from the wing position," he said. "But I would play him there. I'm very comfortable with him there."

Oglesby didn't have to handle the ball a great deal in high school because Washington had Wes Washpun, one of the top point guards in the state. McCaffery made a late pitch for Washpun last season, but Washpun chose Tennessee instead.

Ironically, Oglesby could be the former Warrior who supports Bryce Cartwright at point guard this season. Devyn Marble served as Iowa's No. 2 point guard for much of last season behind Cartwright, but McCaffery apparently has other plans.

"Coach McCaffery said that he doesn't want Marble playing the point," Oglesby offered. "He says that Marble is getting to the hole real well in practice, he's creating his shot and he says he wants Marble on the wing."

Oglesby, 6-foot-5, led the state in 3-pointers last season with 87 and can be a deadly outside shooter, but he's willing to do whatever McCaffery wants.

"If he puts me at point, I know that's what position he thinks I fit best in and what I'm going to succeed in," Oglesby said. "I'm not going to tell him no when he tells me to go in and play point. I'm going to do my best.

"Yeah, it's exciting and intriguing," Oglesby added, "but I'd rather play the wing than the point."

Either way, he plans to keep eating breakfast. That wasn't part of his routine in high school, and it's one of the reasons he's jumped from 184 pounds to 202 in just five weeks.

"I'd basically roll out of bed and go to school," he admitted. "I was so lazy. I'd set my alarm and then hit snooze until I really had to get up.

"The biggest thing to putting on weight is eating breakfast. I'm eating breakfast every morning now. I'm eating about five or six meals a day.

"And weightlifting here is way different than it was in high school," he said. "They push you."

He's bigger, but figures he's still not big enough.

"I can tell that I'm still a little skinny dude," he said. "I can't really tell that big of a difference, because all the other guys are so physical and tough.

"I'm sure if I went back to high school and played I'm sure I'd feel a big difference, but I'm going to have to keep getting stronger and keep adding on weight."

Oglesby averaged 21.2 points and 7 rebounds last year for Washington. He knows he'll have to make adjustments in college, but feels comfortable so far.

"The game itself is way more physical and way quicker," he said. "(But) I don't feel like it's that big of a difference. The first couple of weeks were way different, but it's still just basketball."

Oglesby got kidded Thursday because his name was misspelled on the back of his jersey. It said "Ogelsby" instead of "Oglesby," so his teammates and reporters had fun with that.

"I'm sure they'll get something corrected, hopefully," he said. "The season is right around the corner."