Washington leads Enterprise to regionals

ENTERPRISE – Central-Phenix City couldn’t buy a basket and Robert Washington and Trevon McNeal couldn’t miss while they led Enterprise to a convincing 69-54 victory over the visiting Red Devils in a Class 6A sub-regional on Friday night.

The Wildcats (22-6) advanced to the regional tournament in Montgomery, where they will play Sidney Lanier at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning. Central ended its season 21-11.

Washington, scored a game-high 19 points, including the first two baskets of the game. The senior was 8-for-12 from the field and said he was very motivated for his final home game. The win avenged a regular-season loss to Central in Enterprise’s holiday tournament.

“We refused to let that happen again,” Washington said. “We just took care of business tonight. … We didn’t want this to be our last game. We wanted it more than they did. We came out and put it on them. We played for four quarters.”

Washington set the tone in both halves. He scored six points in the first quarter and nine points in the third.

“To be honest, I was talking to my teammates all day,” Washington said. “I said, if they leave me open, I’m pulling (the trigger) every time. Those were my exact words. They left me open, so that’s what I did.”

Central coach Bobby Wright was concerned that the Red Devils would have trouble in the paint. His best inside player, Jonathan Curry, who will play football at Purdue, missed the game while accepting an academic award. Still, Wright noticed Washington’s confidence inside.

“I think he got 4 points last time and this time he couldn’t miss one,” Wright said. “We wanted to try and pack it in the paint, but we just didn’t do a good job of it.”

Enterprise coach Kenny Hill joked that his has three names for Washington.

“When he’s playing really, really, really good, his name is Big Shot Rob,” the coach said. “When he’s playing so-so, he’s Robert Washington. And when he’s playing like he played last year, he’s No. 44.

“When we call him No. 44, he don’t like it. It motivates him to get better. He’ll say, ‘I’m Big Shot Rob tonight, coach.’ He was hitting his jumper. He was getting to the basket. They really didn’t have an answer for him.”

Enterprise senior guard Rhett Harrelson, a five-year starter playing his final home game, said it was evident Washington was hot early.

“Rob came out and I think hit his first three or four shots,” said Harrelson, whose 3-pointer game Enterprise an early 7-0 lead. “But it wasn’t just him. Everybody was on fire – not only hitting shots but playing together.

“That was our best team effort that we’ve had this season. I can’t say enough about the guys.”

Central missed its first 11 shots from the field – but only trailed by that 7-0 score before Jarvis Ackles hit a pair of free throws to put the Red Devils on the board with 2:35 left in the first quarter. Their first basket came on a 3-pointer with 2:09 left in the quarter – a 3-pointer from Devin Pugh, who led Central with 17 points.

But the Red Devils never got into a good shooting rhythm. They trailed 13-8 after the first quarter and 28-19 at halftime.

“It was ugly,” Wright said, describing the shooting. “Normally, we’re a pretty good shooting team. We just had too many turnovers, too.”

Hill noted his team’s preparation paid off, too.

“They don’t run a lot of sets,” Hill said. “Our JV guys ran it all week against us. We walked through it. So they knew where the guy they were guarding was going. Defense is all about heart and determination. We challenged our guys to go ahead and give your best effort on defense. … I thought we did a good job holding them to 19 in the first half.”

The Wildcats put on a shooting clinic to stay out front. Trevon McNeal stayed perfect from the field for the second straight game. The guard was 8-for-8 and finished with 17 points. Harrelson scored 13 points and Joshua Boykin added 11 points and 10 rebounds. As a team, Enterprise shot 28-for-47 from the field – and 25-for-36 from inside the 3-point line.

The Wildcats scored 20 points in the third quarter and 21 in the fourth. Central trailed 48-32 after three and got no closer than 10 points in the fourth quarter.

After Pugh’s 17 points, Jonathan Wallace was the other Red Devil in double figures with 14.

“My hat’s off to Enterprise,” Wright said. “They’ve gotten better. Defensively, they picked it up. They’re playing better team defense, in terms of everybody helping out. They help a lot. And their inside play, they’ve gotten fundamentally better.”