With two straight significant victories, the Washington-Liberty Generals boys basketball team has entered the conversation as a contender in the Liberty District.
The Generals snapped a three-game losing streak with league wins over the host Langley Saxons, 65-57, then the visiting Wakefield Warriors, 58-44, on consecutive nights.
Washington-Liberty improved to 6-10 overall and 3-2 in the district.
Washington-Liberty coach Bobby Dobson said his young, inexperienced but talented players are beginning to get comfortable playing together, and are gaining confidence.
“We have gotten into a nice rhythm, we are making some baskets and finding out what works,” Dobson told ARLnow. “We know what doesn’t work.”
The Generals had lost their first four games this season, and five of their last six before the Langley contest.
“It’s taken time, but they are playing well as a team,” Dobson said.
Washington-Liberty got first-half leads against both Langley and Wakefield, and maintained and added to those advantages as the games progressed.
The Generals trailed Wakefield, 10-4 in the first quarter. A 16-0 W-L run gave the Generals the lead for good. Two foul shots by junior guard Gabriel Smith put W-L in front for good at 12-10.
Smith scored six points on 6 of 6 free throws.
Junior forward Carmichael Williams led W-L in scoring against Wakefield with 18 points. He scored 11 in the first period.
Dobson said Williams has embraced his role of playing and scoring and rebounding down low on offense, and has become a force in the lane.
“He said he wanted to play on the outside, but I told him he was more valuable inside and could do more in there,” Dobson said.
Williams also was the leading scorer in the win over Langley.
Also against Wakefield, Mitchell Tuvshin scored all 12 of his points on three-pointers in the third quarter. Emmett Engelhardt scored eight, Sean Allen had a number of offensive rebounds and scored five, Adam Dodni made a couple of jump shots and had four points, and Jack Cameron and Anthony Haron each had a basket.
Nine players scored for Washington-Liberty, which was 0-2 against Wakefield last season.
Jeremiah Poole was among the top scorers for Wakefield, which fell to 8-6, 3-2 with its second straight loss.
Weather permitting, the Generals’ next game is Tuesday, Jan. 21 on the road at 5:45 p.m. against the first-place Yorktown Patriots (12-2, 4-0) in district action.
