After sudden loss of top player, Washington progresses toward respectability

CEDAR RAPIDS — Imagine building your entire basketball team around one player.

He's your most experienced guy, someone who started as a freshman. He's a potential Division I college player in a couple of years.

He's your point guard, so he always has the ball. Your offense, your program right now, completely revolves around him.

Then two games into the season, he decides to transfer to another school. Welcome to Cedar Rapids Washington.

'What it has done is create opportunities for other guys,' Washington Coach Justin Decker said, after his team dropped an entertaining affair Monday night to Grinnell, 77-71. 'Guys who didn't expect to get chances right now are getting them.'

It hasn't been easy since Hunter Strait left school and enrolled at Ankeny Centennial. Washington (2-8) lost six in a row by at least 15 points each.

A ray of sunlight appeared last Friday night, when the Warriors stunned a good Cedar Rapids Jefferson team in double overtime. They had a legit shot at this one, too, leading at halftime and cutting as much as an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit to two in the final minute. Sophomore Mick McCurry even got an open look for a game-tying 3-pointer, but it missed, and Grinnell (5-5) hung on.

McCurry is one of those guys getting an unexpected chance to shine now. He had 16 points.

Junior guard Collin Westmoreland went off for 28 points, including seven 3-pointers. He came in averaging five points a game.

'Hunter is a great player, but what we do around here is 'Next man up,'' Westmoreland said. 'You've got to keep playing. Ever since he left, we've had to find different ways to win. We're working on it, so we're still going to get better.

'Hunter controlled the offense, basically created all of our shots. Now we're more in a movement type of offense. Everyone touches the ball. It's a lot different, but I feel like it engages more people.'

The three-headed monster of Cade McKnight, Sam Allen and Ethan Mitchell were simply too much for Wash to overcome. The 6-foot-9 McKnight dominated inside and finished with 29 points, Mitchell added 18 and Allen 16.

Grinnell shot 59 percent from the field.

'At least we're competing now,' Decker said. 'The kids continue to work and buy in.'

'I feel like we played good on offense, but, like we talked about, we need to be tougher on defense,' Westmoreland said. 'We boxed out and got our rebounds, but our defense wasn't there. We're going to get better, we're going to shore that up.'

In the girls' portion of the doubleheader, Grinnell led from start to finish en route to a 73-52 win. The Tigers are ranked fourth in Class 4A.

Madeline Wilkins led Grinnell (9-2) with 19 points, one of four double-figure scorers. Washington (5-6) got 16 points from sophomore Sammy Mia and 13 from freshman Isa Truemper.

AT C.R. WASHINGTON

GRINNELL (77): Ethan Mitchell 6-11 1-1 18, Sam Allen 6-10 2-2 16, Cade McKnight 10-11 9-14 29, Lucas Scherf 3-4 0-2 8, Luke Roudabush 0-2 0-0 0, Jacob Hull 0-2 4-6 4, Nicholas Popp 1-1 0-0 2, Jayden Gibson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-44 16-25 77.

C.R. WASHINGTON (71): Mick McCurry 7-16 0-1 16, Max Campbell 1-5 0-0 2, Donovan Beard 2-5 0-0 4, Collin Westmoreland 10-15 1-1 28, Drew Christensen 1-5 1-3 3, Nolan Potter 2-4 2-2 6, Luke Jonasson 3-8 0-0 7, Ross Snitker 1-1 0-0 2, Joe McKinstry 1-4 0-0 3. Totals 28-64 4-7 71.

Halftime — Washington 38, Grinnell 36. 3-point goals — Grinnell 9-21 (Mitchell 5-10, Allen 2-5, Scherf 2-3, Roudabush 0-2, Gibson 0-1), Washington 11-31 (McCurry 2-9, Westmoreland 7-9, Christensen 0-4, Jonasson 1-5, McKinstry 1-4). Rebounds — Grinnell 32 (McKnight, Scherf 8), Washington 24 (Christensen 6). Total fouls — Grinnell 11, Washington 19. Fouled out — None. Turnovers — Grinnell 16, Washington 9.

l Comments: (319) 398-8259; jeff.johnson@thegazette.com