Williams, Wills lead Washington past Kennedy, 55-51

CEDAR RAPIDS - Laveechie Williams is intimidating enough to play against already.

The Cedar Rapids Washington senior forward is 6-foot-5, quick, springy and absolutely relentless on the court. There are few that play with his energy.

Then you add the mask he's wearing to protect a broken nose, and, man, that's got to be even tougher for opponents to handle. Even if his vision is greatly impaired.

'I can't really see out of it,” the masked man said, after helping Wash past Cedar Rapids Kennedy, 55-51, Tuesday night.

He saw good enough here, though, that's for sure.

Saddled with foul trouble that kept him out of most of the first half, Williams was unstoppable in the second half, especially the fourth quarter, as the Warriors (2-2, 1-1 Mississippi Valley Conference) rallied for a real nice win. Not a good free-throw shooter, he clutched up for a pair of huge ones with 11.8 seconds left to finally put away a Kennedy team that cut a 10-point deficit with 1:44 left to two.

The Cougars even had a solid look to go ahead, but Matt Berst's open corner trey missed. Williams rebounded, was fouled and made his two free throws to cap a 17-point, 12-rebound game.

He shoots those with his mask up on top of his head, by the way. He suffered his broken nose playing a pickup game at the YMCA in early November and hopes to have the mask off for good after Wash returns from the holiday break.

'He plays so hard, is so athletic and talented,” said Washington Coach Justin Decker. 'It really hurt him sitting on the bench, to be honest. He got into foul trouble, and I just told him ‘Trust, you'll get back out there.' When he did, he was great, fantastic.”

'He's just a good player,” said Washington's Keion Wills.

As Wills was, too, actually leading the Warriors with 18 points. He had an 11-point first-half burst that included a pair of longballs.

Another 3 midway through the fourth quarter was pivotal in Washington pulling away for as much as a 53-43 lead.

'I've been in a really bad slump shooting,” said Wills, who then immediately recited his 9-for-44 season line coming in. 'But all my teammates wanted me to keep going, keep shooting. They knew it wouldn't last forever. So I kept shooting and made some shots tonight.”

Drake Brewster led Kennedy (2-3, 1-1) with 18 points and nine rebounds, though Williams' presence was able to slow him some in the second half. Matt Gardner added 15 points, including five straight down the stretch in the fourth to spur his team's last-ditch comeback attempt.

'We had a big lead, and they kept pushing and coming back,” said Williams. 'I'm just so happy for this win. We got ‘em back. They got us in football, but we got them back tonight.”

Kennedy gave Washington both of its losses this fall on the gridiron.

'It kind of stings from football,” Wills said. 'Obviously we got them back tonight. Hopefully we'll get them back when we get to their place, too.”

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AT C.R. WASHINGTON

C.R. KENNEDY (51): Drake Brewster 5-12, 8-9 18, Adam Wall 0-1 0-0 0, Matt Gardner 6-10 1-1 15, Derrick Diggins 4-11 2-3 10, Mike Bisenius 0-5 0-0 0, Derek Girling 0-2 0-0 0, Malik Haynes 1-3 0-0 3, Matt Berst 2-7 0-0 5, Shaun Beyer 0-1 0-0 0, Nick Duehr 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-52 11-13 51.

C.R. WASHINGTON (55): Laveechie Williams 7-10 3-4 17, Dallas Hobbs 1-4 0-0 2, Ian Thomas 2-7 5-7 9, Hunter Strait 2-12 0-0 5, Keion Wills 6-9 2-2 18, Noah Dawson 1-2 0-0 2, Austin Bennett 0-0 0-0 0, Maleik Jackson 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 20-45 10-13 55.

Halftime - Washington 29, Kennedy 25. 3-point goals - Kennedy 4-20 (Brewster 0-1, Gardner 2-4, Diggins 0-2, Bisenius 0-4, Girling 0-2, Haynes 1-2, Berst 1-5), Washington 5-14 (Thomas 0-4, Strait 1-5, Wills 4-5). Rebounds - Kennedy 26 (Brewster 9), Washington 37 (Williams 12). Total fouls - Kennedy 14, Washington 16. Fouled out - None. Turnovers - Kennedy 12, Washington 21.

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