Mar 10, 2017 4 min read

JOHNSTOWN – The Washington High School boys basketball team continued to play shorthanded again Friday night, but as has been the case throughout much of this postseason, the Prexies were not short on points.

Senior guard Matt Popeck, finally healthy, scored a game-high 28 points and Washington received several superb performances from their reserves as the Little Prexies defeated Richland 52-45 in the first round of the PIAA Class AAA playoffs at Johnstown High School.

The win sends Washington (21-5) into the second round Tuesday night against Erie First Christian (17-9), which defeated Karns City in another first-round game.

Washington played without second-leading scorer Isaiah Robinson and three reserves because of a school disciplinary action. Richland (21-6), the District 6 runner-up, also was shorthanded as junior guard Tyler Zimmerman, the Rams’ leading scorer at 17 points per game, was out of the lineup after waking up Friday with a 103-degree temperature.

The Reserve Bowl was decided by a starter as Popeck, who missed two WPIAL playoff games because of an ankle injury, scored 15 first-half points as Washington forged a 25-19 lead at halftime and increased it to as many as 17 points in the third quarter.

Richland mounted a comeback on its three-point shooting, making five in the final eight minutes and nine in the game. The Rams, however, never got closer than four points and Popeck helped seal the game by making four free consecutive free throws in the final minute.

“He has to play that way for us,” Washington coach Ron Faust said. “He even has to do more. Usually, he’s even better at finishing around the rim.”

Though short on manpower, the Prexies got contributions from almost everybody that made it onto the floor. Two key players were forwards Isaiah Walton and Dan Ethridge, two players who did not even get on the court in the Prexies’ final two WPIAL tournament games. Walton scored eight points – all in the first three quarters – and Ethridge had seven points and several key assists in the second half.

“We haven’t had that luxury of having everybody for the last six weeks, for one reason or another,” Faust said. “But they don’t move games because you’re not ready.

“One thing we’ve talked about is you go through 25 or 26 games and the team you start with is not the one you’re going to end up with. Others have to make key plays. Tonight we started to see some other guys make contributions, and Walton and Ethridge did that.”

Walton scored four points in the second quarter as Wash High built the six-point halftime lead. Five different Prexies scored in the third quarter, which included four points by Ethridge, as Washington padded the lead to 40-23.

Richland made a run late in the third quarter, which ended with the Rams’ Tyler Paul making an off-blance three-pointer at the buzzer to trim Washington’s lead to 40-26 and bring the pro-Richland crowd to life.

“The first three quarters were frustrating,” Richland coach Greg Burke said. “We don’t start a senior and we played hard enough to get open looks, but we couldn’t make a shot for three quarters.”

That wasn’t a problem in the fourth quarter. Paul, who scored all of his 18 points on six three-pointers, started the fourth quarter with one from behind the arc and Rams had seized the momentum. Two more treys by Paul and Washington’s lead had suddenly dwindled to 44-39 with a little more than two minutes remaining.

Richland, however, had committed only three team fouls to that point in the half and had to start fouling to put the Prexies at the free-throw line. Once there, Popeck made four straight and Jordan Swart made one of two, which was enough to keep Richland at bay.

“I guess the words to describe our play are heart and dumb,” Faust said. “We always play hard, but we don’t always play smart. There were times late in the game when we should have pulled it out and ran time off the clock but we took quick shots. If (Richland) was a team with a little more experience they would have nailed us.”

Trey Hardison, a 6-3 center for the Rams, scored 11 points and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds, but he spent much of the second quarter on the bench with three fouls. That’s when Wash High started controlling the boards, getting three and even four shots per possession.

“That happens in basketball. Sometimes people get in foul trouble, sometimes people get sick,” Faust said. You just have to play with what you have.”