West Washington Falls to Barr Reeve in IHSAA Regional Tournament on Saturday, March 14

The West Washington Senators basketball season came to an end on March 14 in the Regional round of the IHSAA tournament.

The Senators were paired with the Barr Reeve Vikings in the Hatchet House in Washington Indiana. The Senator faithful traveled well to support the boys, but the Vikings had the proverbial home crowd as they were only a few miles form their own gym. The Senators didn't let this deter them as they came out and just played ball. They started out with two straight turnovers but righted the ship after Colton Brown calmly knocked down a three from the left wing. The Senators led 6-5 after the first four minutes and held a 12-10 lead after the first eight minutes.

The second quarter the Vikings found success by cutting behind the defense on the base line for easy buckets at the rim as they took the 19-18 lead at the four minute mark of the second quarter. The Senators battled back before the half to cling to a 22-21 lead at the break.

The Vikings turned up the defensive pressure in the third quarter with their full court press.

This resulted in them going on a 7-0 run in the first minute of the third quarter taking a 28-22 lead. The Senators took a time out to regain their composure and promptly ripped off an 11-4 run of their own to regain the lead at 33- 32 with 3:21 remaining. The pendulum then swung to the Barr Reeve side as they finished the quarter on a 10-2 run to take a 42- 35 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Senators were only able to trim one point off the Viking lead in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter trailing 48-42. The Senators found themselves still behind with a minute to go and were forced to foul. The Vikings struggled at the line in this last minute missing eight free tosses in a row. The Senators missed some opportunities to make four of those misses hurt as they turned to ball over on their ensuing possession. They did capitalize on the others as they cut the Barr Reeve lead to 53-50 with eight seconds to go. The Viking knocked down two free tosses to lead 55-50 making Holden Russell's three at the horn not enough as the Senators fell 55-53.

While it wasn't the outcome the Senators had hoped for they have nothing to hang their heads about. They came into the game against the number one ranked Vikings as an eleven point underdog and played them to within two points. The turnovers were the difference in the game as the Senators gave up to many extra possessions to the Vikings. They shot well enough to win as they shot 66% from two, 58% from three, and 88% from the free throw line. They were led in scoring by Colton Brown with 20 points. Holden Russell scored 14, Nash Ables 9, Neven Marrs 4, Hayden Morrow 4, and Brady Rosenbaum 2. The future looks bright for the Senators as they should return all five starters and several key reserves from this years Sectional Championship team. They will graduate Hayden Morrow, Jack Armstrong, and

Brennen Sears.