West Fork hits 10 three-pointers in district final victory

CHARLES CITY – Janesville was simply daring Jakob Washington to shoot three-pointers, leaving him wide open.

The West Fork senior obliged, going 5-of-6 from beyond the arc on the way to a game-high 23 points to lead the Warhawks to their second-straight sub-state final with an impressive 83-51 win over the Wildcats.

“I felt pretty good in warm-ups and I trusted myself in the game and I have the teammates that I do telling me to shoot it no matter what,” Washington said. “When I started hitting, my confidence went right through the roof and I wasn’t scared to shoot the other ones.

“That’s happened the last few games and they just let me shoot it. I’m just glad that they fell tonight and I hope I can keep it up because that felt good.”

The Warhawks were 10-of-15 from three-point land in the game with two apiece from Kayden Ames and Ren Heimer. Noah Maske made his only attempt.

“We were 0-for-16 the game before (against AGWSR) from threes, so if you saw that, I would (leave us open to shoot it), too,” West Fork coach Frank Schnoes said. “That’s as good as I’ve seen Jakob Washington shoot in a long time. We kind of set the tone and we hit a couple outside shots, so that picked up everybody else. I think when one is off, nobody can hit anything, but when one or two start making them, the rest of the kids get confidence, too.

“I think we did a good job of shooting on the inside game, I thought the kids showed real patience when they had to. They executed the offense and got to the free throw line and made them. We had a good inside-outside game.”

Washington hit all five of his three-pointers in the first half, four in the first quarter alone, and finished with a double-double, posting 14 rebounds. The Warhawks shot 58.5 percent from the field and even better – 67.9 percent from three. It was a complete dominant performance against a quality team.

“I think it’s huge,” Washington said. “I think it’s the best game we’ve played all year and the biggest game of the year. We’re going to need to keep it up the next game. We came with a lot of energy and a lot of talk, just being there for each other. It helps not being selfish and being a team. That’s what has gotten us this far and if we keep it up, I feel pretty confident.”

The passing in this game was so sharp against a very good Janesville team which bowed out at 19-5, the Warhawks (20-3) were credited with 15 assists in this game, with seven from Heimer and six from Cail Weaver, who also had 14 and 15 points, respectively.

“There is definitely no ‘I’ in this team,” Washington said. “We definitely have…Kayden who is our best shooter, statistically, and he is, but he is not afraid to pass the ball off or anything. That’s what makes us who we are. The teamwork and how much we pump each other up and build each other up. We don’t let anyone bring us down. I love this team of mine, every single one of them, all the credit from practices and coaches to workouts to the game.”

Schnoes added, “Good team effort, kids played hard, start to finish. Took better care of the basketball the previous few games and I thought that was key as well.”

The win sets up a Class 1A Sub-State 2 showdown in Forest City on Saturday, Feb. 27 against second-ranked Lake Mills (24-0).

“It should be (a challenge),” Schnoes said. “When you get to the district final and sub-state, you have to play well if you want to move forward, so hopefully we have one more good (game) left in us.”

West Fork 83

Janesville 51

Janesville (19-5, final)– Jaden Appleby 1 1-2 3, Leo Dodd 1 0-0 2, Peyton Trees 1 0-0 3, Wiley Sherburne 6 4-4 16, Joey Carlson 7 1-1 15, Keagan Eastman 0 0-0 0, Rogan Gergen 0 0-0 0, Dawson Dix 1 0-0 3, Joe Kiene 0 0-0 0, Carson Pariseau 3 0-0 9. Totals 20 6-7 51.

West Fork (20-3)— Cail Weaver 5-8 5-5 15, Kayden Ames 4-7 0-0 10, Jakob Washington 8-11 2-3 23, Ren Heimer 6-12 0-0 14, Joe Ingham 5-7 2-4 12, Noah Maske 2-3 1-1 6, Colin Martinek 0-2 1-2 1, Edison Caspers 0-1 0-0 0, Trevor Guritz 0-0 0-0 0, Casyn Guerrero 0-1 0-0 0, Michael Black 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 31-53 11-15 83.

Janesville  14     6   15   16      -   51

W. Fork      29   17   21   16      -   83

Three-point goals— Jane 6 (Pariseau 3, Trees, Sherburne, Dix); WF 10-15 (Washington 5-6, Ames 2-2, Heimer 2-5, Maske 1-1, Weaver 0-1). Rebounds— Jane, NA; WF 31 (Washington 14, Ames 4, Ingham 4, Weaver 3, Maske 2, Martinek 2, Guerrero). Assists— Jane, NA; WF 15 (Heimer 7, Weaver 6, Ingham 2). Steals— Jane, NA; WF 10 (Heimer 4, Ames 2, Washington 2, Weaver, Maske). Blocks— Jane, NA; WF, None. Total fouls— Jane NA, WF 10. Fouled out— None.