Hale leads The Burn into championship

FIRST HALF

The referees are letting this be extremely physical…Noah Shepherd shows that athletic ability that colleges are interested in. He just went baseline quickly for a strong finish at the rim and that is his second basket of the contest, 7-4 The Burn…Cedric Martin is flying all around the Target Center. He has made only one field goal but three times he's went to the rim looking like he's bouncing off Crunch's trampoline…Now Ced catches an alley-opp for a score but don't blink as Dion Suggs-Young flies back the other way to get a lay-in, 12-10…Maurice Thomas, the 6-foot-5 250 pounder from Johnson, catches and faced Cedric Martin. Surprisingly he swung the ball through and attacked the rim to score, get fouled, and make a free throw. That was eye opening, it gave Johnson a 15-14 lead, and very unexpected…

Cedric gets another offensive rebound and nobody on Johnson is blocking his path to the basket after shots are going up…Now Ra'Shede Hageman scores with an o-board and Johnson needs to box out. The advantage Washburn has in this game is their physical size and they are using it. Washburn has went on a 14-2 run and the combo of o-boards and a huge triple from Dylan Hale has given them this edge, 28-24, The Burn…Washburn senior Nick Smith has played a big role in Washburn being up 33-29. He just took a charge and earlier helped ignite a run with a three-pointer…Ever since these teams have reached the bonus there has been no game flow and it's been a battle of free throws. Washburn's offense has been stagnant since Hageman sat down with a pair of fouls…Jay Edward of the Millers scores twice to close out the half. The first was a leak out lay-up after a Johnson score and then he scored sitting back behind the Johnson zone and Cedric Martin found him with a nice pass for an easy lay-in, 40-37 Washburn…Hale has put up 11 in the first half compared to the eight points from his senior scoring guard counterpart Dion Suggs-Young…

SECOND HALF

Hageman scores with a nice up-and-under but his free throw shooting in the second half has been a struggle. He's missed three or four of them plus Ra'Shede has been hit hard by Johnson players on those fouls and wasn't very pleased according to the look on his face. Honestly, do you really want to take a cheap shot at this guy and make him mad?...DeAaron Hearn has hit a couple pull-ups in the second half and much of it has been on the run. Hearn also threw a pretty alley-opp to Hale for a score and every time Johnson turns the ball over it's becoming a highlight in the other direction…Washburn is picking the Johnson defense apart with their penetration and kick as Shepard produces another three. Coach Reggie Perkins has his offense spread well and Johnson can't rotate quick enough to stop anything. Johnson's offense on the other end is rushing everything and trying to do much on their own with quick threes and early attacks into two defenders, 59-44 Washburn...

One thing to remember is that Washburn plays nine seniors where as Johnson uses three juniors, two sophomores, and then four seniors. That extra experience is a big deal when it comes to big games late in the season……Estan Tyler has struggled trying to find his stroke missing all of his shots from beyond the arc and others in the paint area…Hageman hits two free throws and the Miller crowd goes bonkers!! Those were two good looking free throws but wow that was a big crowd reaction…More from Hageman as he swats a shot and goes back the other way getting fouled and making more free throws. That was followed by a strong rebound in traffic and a Kevin Love like outlet pass that became free throws for Ced. Big second half impact from Martin…64-50 The Burn…

Hageman's strength just stopped Demitri Conwell in mid air. Literally Hageman grabbed all ball and Demitri went from upright to parallel with the floor. Honestly it should have been a jump ball but the body swing of Conwell made it look somewhat bad so a foul was called. Conwell made the tosses but the other way Dylan Hale made a Sportscenter like highlight. He spun off the drive and then squared up while falling right to the baseline hitting a one-handed floater. It was a pretty move by the Texas State commit, 67-52…Hearn to Hale with an alley-oop dunk and you can call this a victory for the Burn with five minutes left. Washburn is just having a blast running and scoring while Johnson continues to basically attack on their own without success…Score is 85-60 with 2:30 left and many regulars are still on the floor for Washburn competing against five Johnson seniors. Some people think one way about this while some think the other in terms of pulling the players. It's a philosophy thing, Washburn is staying with regulars as long as Johnson does…91-66 Washburn…

Washburn shot 49 percent for the game while Johnson made 39 percent. Dylan Hale made eight of 14 looks including three triples scoring a game high 25 points. Plus Hale grabbed seven boards and dished out three assists. Hageman shot three of four from the floor, six of eleven from the line, and scored 12 points with nine boards and three steals. Cedric Martin scored 13 points with 12 rebounds and then Jordan Osberg scored 12 and Hearn produced ten points. For Johnson, Suggs-Young led with 12 points on five of 17 shooting plus he had five turnovers. Estan Tyler shot two of 11 for the game and between Estan and Dion the shooting struggles were a big problem. Washburn had a 50 to 32 rebounding average. Overall this game had an ugly 51 turnovers committed and 54 turnovers produced.

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