Washington at LaFollette thoughts

The Czar continues his adventure in the Old Kingdom as he joins the Crown Prince for a battle of Wisconsin top 10 teams. Milwaukee Washington bringing their talented squad to Madison LaFollette. We've got our 1st band of the year as the LaFollette pep band does a nice job. Too bad that there wasn't a better crowd. Tons of coaches and scouts in attendance (UW and Winona State were in the house).

Washington has the #2 soph in Wisconsin, Queyvn Winters, but he doesn't start. That's the level of talent we're looking at. LaFolllete star point guard DJ Fuller with 7 points in the 1st 4 minutes and LaFollette is out to a quick 10-4 lead. Washington turns up the D and gets 8 points in the next minute for an 11-10 Washington lead. LaFollette's Brett Klinkner knocks down a 3 at the 1st quarter buzzer and LaFollette leads 17-16 after 1 quarter of play. Fuller with 2 fouls.

Washington star Antone Byrd (#7 Sr in WI) steps it up in the 2nd quarter. He knocks down a deep 3 with 3:30 left in the quarter to cut a 6 point LaFollette lead in half. Fuller picks up his 3rd foul on a charge moments later and goes to the bench. Byrd with an offensive rebound for 2 free throws and then he finds freshman Tony Mayfield for a triple to tie it at 34. Winters gets a post bucket late in the half but LaFollette's Chris Redman gets another late 3 for LaFollette and they go to the break ahead 40-38. Washington only 3-10 at the line. Redman with 11 points in the half after a cold start for LaFollette. Fuller quiet the last 12 minutes of the half as he has 8 points at the break. Byrd with 10 points. Terry Taylor with 11 nice points for Washington.

Winters starts the 2nd half and he gets the 1st 3 Washington points of the half. LaFollette goes on a quick 8-0 run over a 1 minute stretch (5 Fuller points) and they lead 50-44 with 3:15 left in the 3rd. Both bigs for LaFollette have 4 fouls so they go small. Klinkner with triple triples for LaFollette and the lead balloons to 11 (14-1 LaFollette run). Byrd goes coast to coast to end the 3rd and the lead is 61-54 LaFollette after 3.

Byrd shows up huge in the 4th. A drive for 2 and a nice pullup for 2 more but the lead is still 7. Fuller makes a nice pullup of his own and its 69-58 LaFollette with 6 minutes left. Washington then goes off. 2 offensive rebounds for 4 points, Byrd with a steal for 2, a block leads to a Terry Taylor 3. Fuller with a bad miss followed by a Byrd spin for 2. 2 missed FTs for LaFollette and Winters gets 2 on the block with 3 minutes left to give Washington the lead 71-69. Byrd with 2 FTs, Winters again inside and Jonathan Macklin is blocking everything in sight on the other end. LaFollette has a 3 go in and out with 90 seconds left that would have cut it to 3. Washington makes their FTs late and they win 84-73. In the last 6 minutes, Washington outscored LaFollette 26-4 (including 25-1 run).

Antone Byrd was a stud for Washington. 29 points and he dominated the 4th quarter as the ball was in his hands the entire way. Very smooth lefty and he didn't make bad mistakes. Soph Queyvn Winters showed nice athleticism, an ability to handle and score some inside. A tweener right now, but a very nice prospect. 10 points for him. Terry Taylor with a terrific game at the point as well. I had him for 23 points on the night. As stated before, Jonathan Macklin was a man inside. He reacted to shots inside and out and got on the glass. Dominant 2nd half.

Chris Redman was cold early for LaFollette, but he got it together after the 1st quarter and finished with 20 points. DJ Fuller hot early, but didn't do much after that. 16 points for him and I wanted to see him do more in the 4th. Surprising that they didn't go back to the small lineup in the 4th quarter after its success in the 3rd. LaFollette played with out their best big Deonte Thompson and that hurt them tonight. They are fun to watch with their Dribble Drive Motion offense. Its a good fit for Fuller as it will really give him opportunities to create for himself and others.