Washington runs past New Hampton to win season opener

CEDAR RAPIDS - They can run, no doubt about that. The Washington Warriors love to run.

Transition definitely will be one of the strengths of this basketball team. A 60-42 season-opening win Tuesday night over New Hampton showed it might not be the only one.

'We definitely played well,” Wash's Dallas Hobbs said. 'We had a few turnovers, just trying to do a little too much. We needed to slow it up at times a little bit. But we're going to make a run this year, definitely.”

The components seem to be there. Hobbs, a 6-foot-6 senior who missed all of last season with a knee injury, teams with 6-5 senior Laveechie Williams for an athletic inside duo that will give opposing teams fits.

They can run the floor, too, which is an added bonus. Each finished with 13 points, Hobbs adding 10 rebounds.

Hunter Strait is just a sophomore but has the requisite skills to run the point well for the Warriors. He had a game-high 15 points, 12 in the second half, impressing with quick moves to the hoop and flashy passing.

'We did a lot of good things,” he said. 'We're still trying to come together with a new coach and a new system. It's been a little tough, only having nine practices so far. But I thought we did really good for our first game. We've got to work on a couple of things, but I think we have a chance to be really good.”

Justin Decker won his first game as Wash boss, though he figured it was his fourth win overall as a head coach. He coached one season at Riceville before becoming an assistant coach at Coe and Cornell.

'For the most part, pleased,” he said. 'The things we've been working on in practices were the positives to come out of this game. Offensively, obviously, you can tell we like to get up and down. We did that tonight. We turned it over a little bit, but I think it was guys trying to make the right plays. Maybe we were (playing) a little too fast, maybe didn't catch the ball the right way. But the idea was right.”

Washington suffered a significant player loss when guard Jared Printy, who has signed with Division I Western Michigan, transferred after last season to Linn-Mar. But these guys are determined not to let that affect them.

'It didn't really matter to me,” Williams said. 'We're OK without him.”

More than OK here. Washington took a 18-6 lead after a quarter, was up nine at halftime and blew the game open with 20 third-quarter points.

'Coach is working with us. It will be a process,” Williams said. 'I thought we played well. We could have done better on transition, had some turnovers, didn't play our best. But we did all right.”

'Good group of kids,” Decker said. 'I got to know about half of them throughout the summer. Now that I've got everybody, kind of solidified our roster, have the kids who are kind of on board with starting a new era in Washington basketball, it's a good group. I think they're here for the right reasons. I tell them it's a journey, a process. We've got to get better every day.”

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AT C.R. WASHINGTON

NEW HAMPTON (42): Matt Mulford 5-12 0-1 10, Tyler Rentschler 2-8 1-1 5, Tristan Sweitzer 2-6 2-2 7, Keagan John 2-4 0-1 4, Brogan Rosonke 1-7 2-4 5, Michael Drewelow 1-5 1-2 3, Zachary Heying 0-3 0-0 0, Kyle Hale 2-3 0-0 4, Jacob Zwanziger 2-3 0-0 4, Eric Shatek 0-0 0-0 0, Aaron Peterson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-51 6-11 42.

C.R. WASHINGTON (60): Dallas Hobbs 6-8 1-2 13, Laveechie Williams 6-14 1-2 13, Noah Dawson 2-6 0-0 4, Hunter Strait 7-12 0-0 15, Keion Wills 2-8 0-0 4, Donovan Beard 0-2 0-0 0, Nolan Potter 0-2 0-0 0, Ian Thomas 0-2 0-0 0, Maleik Jackson 2-3 0-0 5, Austin Bennett 1-2 0-0 2, Luke Jonasson 1-2 0-0 2, DeOmri Diaz-Taylor 0-0 0-0 0, Keegan Collins 1-1 0-0 2, Christian Beard 0-1 0-0 0, Spencer Henningsen 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 28-64 2-4 60.

Halftime - Washington 26, New Hampton 17. 3-point goals - New Hampton 2-11 (Rentschler 0-3, Sweitzer 1-3, John 0-1, Rosonke 1-1, Heying 0-2, Hale 0-1), Washington 2-11 (Dawson 0-3, Strait 1-2, Wills 0-1, D. Beard 0-1, Thomas 0-1, Jackson 1-2, Jonasson 0-1). Rebounds - New Hampton 31 (Mulford 8), Washington 44 (Hobbs 10). Total fouls - New Hampton 5, Washington 12. Fouled out - None.

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