Henry pulls away late at Washburn

Prologue
Nothing like a trip up an icy hill for a Minneapolis City Conference showdown with Henry making the trip to Washburn.  Washburn's Deonte Blakemore lighting up the JV game on the offensive end but I want to see some more intensity on the defensive end.  Being down 20 didn't help.  Washburn 1 of 2 places I go where there are the high qualify beef hot dogs.  Have to have that tonight. We had the Nestle's Nesquick Rabbit jacket making another appearance tonight.  Ken Lien and one of the mysterious Mr. Basketball committee members in attendance.  And...Rene Pulley, who was even there for the freshman game (which Henry gave away)

Game Time
No Jordan Hughes in the starting lineup for Henry but he is in uniform.  7-2 Henry quickly out and Washburn needs a timeout.  A pair of Henry layups and Kameron Fisher's entry off the bench for a putback extend the lead to 16-7 at 12:30.  Washburn counters with an 11-2 run over 2:35 thanks to 3 triples.  The last by Dwight Anderson to tie the game at 18 at the 9:55 mark.  Fisher with the only 2 Henry points in the run and he gets a layup from Louis Cox.  3 Clarence Thomas free throws put Washburn up 25-22 with 8 minutes in the half when Jordan Hughes enters for Henry.  Andy Leighton with 2 layups to extend the Washburn lead to 29-23 when Hughes gets going.  He has an assist for 2, then a pullup on the break for 3.  He makes 2 more triples around a Nick Anderson triple to tie the game at 38 inside of 3 minutes. Clarence Thomas drives for 2 and a Hughes turnover becomes a Dwight Anderson layup that counted despite the fact that it clearly didn't beat the halftime buzzer.  46-42 Washburn at the break. 

Second half starts with Hughes and Dwight Anderson going back and forth.  Anderson with 10 of the 1st 12 Washburn points.  Hughes with 14 of the first 16 for Henry.  58 all after 2 Hughes FTs with 12:58 left.  Then Fisher enters for Henry and immediately has 2 dunks.  The last on a Washburn turnover, then another turnover but Thomas gets it back and scores to end a wild sequence.  Washburn timeout with 11:55 remaining to settle their guys down with a 63-62 lead.  Fisher this time with an assist to Fred Henry for a layup. Then Louis Cox to Romeal Taylor for another Henry layup.  Fred Henry off a turnover for 2 more and Hughes with 2 freebies to conclude an 8-0 run in 90 seconds.  Henry takes timeout which was a bit surprising since they had some momentum.  Dwight Anderson converts a Henry turnover to cut the Patriots lead to 72-68 with 9:15 left.  And that's basically your ball game.  Hughes converts a turnover for 2, Fisher with an offensive board that he kicks out to Cox for 3 (Brilliant!), Hughes for 3 more, Fisher to August Fleming for a layup etc etc.  Washburn gets 1 free throw the rest of the game and doesn't score in the last 8:02 as they couldn't throw it in the ocean.  22-1 Henry run the rest of the way as Henry wins 94-69.

For Washburn, I had Dwight Anderson with 20 of 32 points in the 1st half, but the official box has him for 27 points.  3 of those points may have gone to freshman PG Nick Anderson who isn't shooter Dwight is and he's smaller, but he's definitely a point guard where Dwight is a shooting guard.  Clarence Thomas with 12 of his 16 in the first half.  The Millers fall to 1-2 in league play and 4-6 overall with a pair of league games coming up next week.

For Henry, they improve to 8-6 overall with 4 of the losses by a combined 7 points.  They remain on top of the conference at 4-0 with North.  Jordan Hughes, dare I say, en fuego.  Despite not playing the 1st 10 minutes he finishes with 32 points.  23 of those in the second half and 5 triples overall.  Big story again was Kameron Fisher, as I wrote in December, this kid needs more minutes.  Great production off the Patriots bench.  15 points, had to have double digit boards, 3 assists and 2 blocks.  He has a limited skill set, but he's smart enough to not play outside of it and plays with great energy.  Louis Cox also with 15 points for the Patriots and a handful of assists.