Standouts’ struggles don’t stop Clark boys from edging Valley
Sometimes your best player struggles shooting the basketball. Sometimes your big man gets in foul trouble.
And sometimes a good team can overcome those negatives to come away with a victory.
Clark’s boys did that on Friday night.
The Chargers overcame a horrible shooting night from star guard Sir Washington and got a key bucket from senior post player Malcolm Davis, who barely played because of foul trouble, to rally for a 64-60 home victory over Valley.
“When you’re not playing that great, when you’re not shooting the ball well, you have to have the mental toughness to dig and do the other little things,” Clark coach Chad Beeten said.
The Chargers (2-0) trailed 45-39 going into the fourth quarter but rallied late. The 6-foot-8-inch Davis had just one basket, but it couldn’t have been much bigger. Clark’s Carter Olsen found Davis in the post, and the big man converted with 1:09 to play to put the Chargers up 55-54, and they didn’t trail again.
“Mack struggled all night with foul trouble and didn’t get touches, and then all of a sudden he comes in and he makes a big play,” Beeten said. “And it might have been the biggest bucket of the game.”
Washington, who has signed to play at Eastern Washington, was 0-for-9 from the field in the first half and 5-for-22 for the game. But he scored nine of his 19 points in the fourth quarter to help the Chargers rally.
“That just shows the maturity that Sir Washington’s getting, because last year if he shot like that in the first half, he would have been done for the game,” Beeten said. “We would have never gotten anything out of him for the rest of the game. He’s grown and matured so much that he comes back and hits big shots. He hit big shot after big shot, especially when we needed to.”
Diontae Jones was about the only starter who was consistent throughout for Clark. The 6-6 forward finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
“Diontae’s Diontae,” Beeten said. “He just does what he does, and he does everything. He scores, he makes free throws, defends, takes charges, rebounds. What didn’t he do tonight.”
Washington, who also had 11 rebounds, was 4-for-4 from the foul line in the final 25 seconds. Sherron Wilson added 11 points and six rebounds for Clark.
Ryan Johnson paced Valley (2-1) with 20 points. Daniel Young, who has signed with Cal State Fullerton, added 10 points, 13 rebounds and six blocked shots, and Eric Burrell had 10 points and six boards for the Vikings.