Washington says it can't be too disappointed about losing rare 5-overtime game

CEDAR RAPIDS — Hunter Strait played the entire game Saturday night. The sophomore never left the court, was at point guard every minute and every second.

That's impressive enough on the surface, but realize he and the Cedar Rapids Washington Warriors played a game at Des Moines Roosevelt that didn't end in regulation.

Or the first overtime, or the second. Washington played five, yes, five, OTs before falling to Roosevelt, 95-87.

'Oh, my God,' Strait said, when asked what he felt like after playing 52 straight minutes. 'I've played 32 minutes, most all of games before. I get tired doing that.'

But Strait felt he couldn't come out for a rest, even though Coach Justin Decker asked him a few times if he needed a blow. Washington (5-8) was without starting center Laveechie Williams, serving a one-game suspension following an ejection Friday night against Cedar Rapids Jefferson for amassing two technical fouls, and a couple of other guys.

Drew Christensen and Collin Westmoreland got unexpected promotions from the Wash sophomore team to help out and ended up playing. Washington held a 30-22 halftime lead, Roosevelt went ahead by a pair after the third quarter, and the rest of the game was back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

The teams were tied after regulation, 52-52. It was 57-all after the first OT, 60-apiece after the second OT and 66-66 after the third.

Washington appeared to have victory when a player had a wide-open layup after a nifty pass underneath by Strait with two seconds to go in the fourth overtime, but he couldn't handle the ball and it went out of bounds as the buzzer sounded. Roosevelt finaly took permanent control in the fifth OT.

'In the fourth or fifth overtime, I was really starting to feel it,' Straight said. 'I got hit pretty hard in the third overtime, and I've been having problems with my back.' 'It was a tough game, and we knew it would be,' Decker said. 'We just wanted to do the best we could with what we had.'

Strait finished with 31 points for Washington. Backcourt mate Keion Wills added 28 before fouling out in the fifth overtime.

He played a mere 49 minutes in the game.

January 25, 2016

@jeje66 @Hunter_strait5 I haven't moved from my bed all day 

— Keion Wills (@DatGuy_kei)

'A five-overtime game? No, I've never been involved in one like that,' Decker said. 'We really, really wanted to finish it off. It would have been a great win. But you can't be mad that we didn't get it done. Our guys battled and battled. You just can't be upset.'

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