Charleston – One year ago, E.J. Washington was sitting at home during the boys basketball state tournament.
At that time, Washington was a junior guard at Princeton High School. The Tigers had missed out on a trip to Charleston following a loss in the sectional championship game and the subsequent regional co-final.
Fast forward one year and the basketball world for Washington is completely different.
Now a starting guard for Bluefield High School, the senior speedster is gearing up to play for the Class AA state championship Saturday night inside the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center.
“This feels great. It is so exciting. This is exactly what we wanted to do,” Washington said. “Our goal since this summer was just to go to the championship and that is exactly where we are at.”
Although he never played with his Bluefield teammates for the school basketball team, Washington was very familiar with the players on the Bluefield roster.
“I have played with these guys my whole life really, in AAU and travel,” Washington said. “It just feels comfortable to be here. Coming over to Bluefield was just like second nature.”
One of the teammates that Washington played summer ball with was all-stater R.J. Hairston who talked about his teammate.
“E.J. is a great player and I am really glad he came over. He is part of the brotherhood. He came over, we put him in our system and he fits in great. I am proud of him,” Hairston said. “He fit right in where we needed him. We played together back when we were 10-14 years old and we have always had that chemistry about us.”
After waltzing through the postseason without a true scare, Bluefield found itself in a dogfight Friday evening in the semifinal round of the state tournament against Wheeling Central.
Struggling to score most of the night, the Beavers trailed in the fourth quarter before some old-school Bluefield defensive magic took over.
Washington was right in the middle of the turnaround for the Mercer County boys.
“We love to play fast-paced and pressure people. Most teams don’t like to play to our pace,” Washington said. “We love to speed teams up and create turnovers.”
Trailing by two points with just under six minutes to play, Washington came up with a huge steal and kicked the ball to a slashing Kam’Ron Gore to even the game.
In the ensuing frenzy, Sencere Fields stole a pass in the middle of the floor and moved the ball forward to Washington who found Hairston for a dunk, creating a huge eruption in the Bluefield crowd.
When the ball touched his hands, Washington knew exactly where to look for the score.
“I knew we had to score in transition. Coach is always on us about that in practice. We have to finish in transition,” Washington said.
The brief outburst did not decide the game, but it changed the momentum of it. One possession later, Glen Keene canned a 3-ball for a five-point lead which Bluefield never relinquished in a 56-47 win.
It was the second night in a row that Washington had collected three steals for the Beavers.
“We knew it was going to be hard game from the beginning. We knew they would come out and fight,” Washington stated. “Everything wasn’t going our way early, but once we settled in, we played great. I just have to play my role. That is what the coaches tells us 24-7, play your role.”
Following the loss of two solid scoring wings last year in Caleb Fuller and Will Looney, Washington was a much-needed addition for the Beavers.
“I can’t say enough about E.J. and Brett Samosky,” Bluefield head coach Buster Large said. “E.J. has worked himself into a starting role. It’s called T.E.A.M. Teams win you state championships.”
The Class AA state championship game is scheduled to tip at 7:30 p.m.
