WASHINGTON’S POST
Junior forward scores 21 points, West Side wins first regional title since 2005
Jalen Washington raised the level of his game to the moment.
And it was a big moment for West Side.
The 6-foot-11 junior forward scored 21 points, grabbed eight rebounds and had a blocked shot in the Cougars’ 58-43 victory over South Bend Riley in the Class 4A Michigan City Regional championship game.
It’s the first regional title since 2005 for West Side (22-4), which beat Elkhart 68-34 in the semifinals behind 18 points from 6-1 senior guard Quimari Peterson. Valparaiso lost 44-36 to South Bend Riley in the other semifinal.
West Side, which had won its first four tournament games by an average of nearly 24 points, struggled until midway through the third quarter against Riley.
Washington and Peterson, however, turned it up with a little over three minutes left in the third.
Trailing 34-30, West Side scored 16 of the next 20 points to transform a close game into a relatively easy win.
Peterson kept West Side in the game for most of the third, making three of his four 3-pointers in that quarter. He finished with 16 points.
Washington put it away in the fourth, making two 3-pointers. He scored eight points in the quarter.
Led by Notre Dame recruit Blake Wesley, South Bend Riley (19-7) kept the Cougars off-balance for much of the first three quarters. Wesley finished with 23 points.
Washington said it wasn’t easy to shake the Wildcats.
“It was a dogfight the entire game,” he said. “The final score doesn’t show how tough the game was.”
Peterson said there was a sense of urgency in the third quarter.
“We were losing,” he said. “We had to get it done. I knew I had to pick it up for my team.”
West Side coach Chris Buggs said Peterson and Washington found it when the Cougars needed it most.
“It was rough for us for a while,” he said. “I thought Jalen was in a rut and Quimari was in a rut. Once they got it going, the team started believing in itself again.”
Washington, who is ranked among the top 50 prospects for the 2022 class by 247sports.com, barely played in his first two seasons. He has scholarship offers from Indiana, Purdue, Michigan State and Stanford.
Washington missed most of his freshman year with a shoulder injury. He missed all of his sophomore year with a knee injury.
He has been playing with a brace on his knee.
As a result, Washington called the win “incredibly exciting.”
“These are my closest friends,” he said. “These are my brothers. To have a moment like this to be able to share it with people that are so
special is great.”
Buggs said Washington never gave in mentally to the injuries.
“I’m happy for him,” he said. “No one knows the type of work he had to do to get back. I told him if you work, good things happen. He deserved it.”