Charleroi falls to first-place Prexies, 67-33
Holly Tonini
Washington鈥檚 Carlos Harper (1) and Charleroi鈥檚 Will Wagner (44) battle for a rebound during Tuesday night鈥檚 game at Charleroi.
Charleroi鈥檚 Jake King looks to pass around Washington鈥檚 Carlos Harper and Davoun Fuse (10) during Tuesday night's game at Charleroi.
Holly Tonini
Washington鈥檚 Tayshawn Levy puts up a shot as Charleroi鈥檚 Will Wagner defends during a game at Charleroi on Feb. 1. Both players were named to the Section 4 (3A) Century Conference All Section First Team, as was Waynesburg Central鈥檚 Chase Henkins.
Washington鈥檚 Davoun Fuse dunks during Tuesday night's game at Charleroi.
CHARLEROI 鈥� Tayshawn Levy scored 13 of his game-high 31 points in the first quarter and Washington never looked back on its way to a 67-33 win over Charleroi in a Section 4-AAA boys basketball game Tuesday night.
鈥淲hen Tayshaun hits jumpers, I don鈥檛 know what you do with him,鈥� said Prexies coach Ron Faust of how to defend Levy. 鈥淗e goes so hard to the basket, and he sparked us in the first half.鈥�
The first-place Prexies (9-0, 12-1) had one of their best shooting nights of the season and their defense smothered the Cougars鈥� high-scoring Will Wagner all night.
The Charleroi senior came in averaging 32 points per game, and the Prexies didn鈥檛 give him an inch as he finished with 16. Taviaire Jereen stepped up to the challenge of guarding Wagner.
鈥淭aviaire is a silent assassin for us and does some tremendous things for us,鈥� said Washington coach Ron Faust. 鈥淗e doesn鈥檛 look like he is moving at a very high speed, but he takes control of anyone he is guarding.鈥�
Charleroi coach Bill Wiltz was impressed with Washington鈥檚 performance.
鈥淭hey dominated every aspect of the game,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey got to the rim well, ran the fast break extremely well. They just take off.
鈥淭hey have so much size, they only have to send three guys to the boards and can send the other two down court. They are so athletic and hard to defend.鈥�
Up 14-10 late in the first quarter, the Prexies went on a 10-0 run to end the quarter and a 9-0 run to start the second.
The 19-0 run took the score from 14-10 to 33-10.
Washington led 45-17 at halftime and cruised the rest of the way, although Faust was not happy with his team鈥檚 third-quarter performance.
鈥淚 am pleased overall with what we did but we came out and stood in the third quarter,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 thought we could have ended the thing early in the third quarter.鈥�
Carlos Harper added 12 points for Washington.
Despite the loss, Wiltz said the Cougars (3-5, 11-6) are going to fight and scrap trying to finish strong and get into the playoffs as they sit a half-game behind Waynesburg Central (4-5, 8-9) for fourth place and the final postseason spot. The Raiders were idle Tuesday.
鈥淲e have to get it figured out, and we will keep plugging until we get it figured out because we are in a little bit of a spin,鈥� he said.
Both teams hit the road Friday for section games as the Prexies are at Waynesburg looking to clinch the section title while the Cougars head to McGuffey.
鈥淲e have the game Friday and four next week, so it can be a very hectic time,鈥� said Faust. 鈥淲e have Charleroi again next week and Bill will have them ready because they are going for a playoff spot.鈥�