Findlay Prep ousts Oak Hill in quarterfinals of Dick’s Nationals
Findlay Prep’s P.J. Washington didn’t have much time for rest after playing in the McDonald’s All American game Wednesday night in Chicago.
The Kentucky-bound senior, who fell asleep on Central Time Zone, needed to hop on a plane a few hours later to reach New York City for his final high school basketball tournament.
Not a problem.
Showing no side effects of jet lag or fatigue, Washington tallied 22 points, four rebounds and five blocks Thursday to help No. 4 seed Findlay Prep knock off defending national champion and fifth-seeded Oak Hill (Virginia) 77-65 in the quarterfinals of the Dick’s High School Nationals Tournament at Christ the King High School.
“I definitely won’t be waking him up for breakfast (tomorrow),” Findlay Prep coach Paul Washington Sr. said jokingly.
Findlay Prep (34-3) will meet top-seeded La Lumiere (Indiana) in the semifinals at 2 p.m. Friday at Christ the King. The game will be televised on ESPN2.
On Thursday, the Pilots came out inspired to reach the semis. They scored the first nine points and built a 15-5 lead midway through the first quarter to grab momentum. But they would need to rally from a 32-31 halftime deficit and six-point hole in the third quarter.
Washington scored nine of the team’s 18 points in the third quarter, and the Findlay Prep defense held Oak Hill scoreless for the final four minutes of the period to grab a five-point advantage. The Warriors missed their last nine shots of the third quarter, and the Pilots pulled away in the fourth with a 12-4 run to make the score 61-48 with 5:10 remaining.
“We did a good job in our press and creating turnovers,” Washington Sr. said. “We talked about it at halftime that we shouldn’t have 11 turnovers. And we talked about getting off the ball sooner and not holding it. Defensively, we sat in a zone and wanted them to make shots — whenever a team shoots like that, it makes it tough. We felt good about our chances.”
Lamine Diane and Reggie Chaney added 21 points apiece for Findlay Prep.
Billy Preston, the game’s other McDonald’s All-American and a Kansas commit, had 21 points and nine rebounds to lead Oak Hill (39-5).
Contact reporter Ashton Ferguson at aferguson@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0430. Follow @af_ferguson on Twitter.
