Washington
Wells, Jakimovski lead Washington State past Oregon State 64-58
CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) — Jaylen Wells hit six straight 3-pointers and scored a career-high 24 points, Andrej Jakimovski hit two of his five 3-pointers down the stretch and Washington State beat Oregon State 64-58 on Thursday night.
Wells made 9 of 15 shots, missed just twice from beyond the arc and added seven rebounds for the Cougars (17-6, 8-4 Pac-12 Conference), who have won four in a row and seven of eight. Jakimovski made 5 of 9 from distance with two coming over a 47-second span late in the game.
Isaac Jones had 12 points and seven rebounds for Washington State. Freshman Myles Rice scored eight points with six assists.
Jordan Pope led the Beavers (11-12, 3-9) with 12 points, but he was held scoreless in the second half until a late 3-pointer. Tyler Bilodeau had 11 points and Michael Rataj scored 10 off the bench.
Wells had 11 points in the first nine minutes and Washington State jumped out to a 17-12 lead. Wells sank all four of his 3-point attempts and had 18 points at halftime, one off his career high, and the Cougars led 27-26. Wells made 7 of 9 shots while his teammates sank just 4 of 20.
Jakimovski, who had three points in the first half, hit a 3-pointer to begin the second, Wells sank his first two shots from beyond the arc and Washington State led 36-31 with 16:20 left to play.
Oregon State pulled even four times but could not take the lead. KC Ibekwe’s layup tied it at 51, but Isaac Jones grabbed an offensive rebound and turned it into a three-point play and the Cougars stayed in front. Rice scored in the paint and WSU led 56-51 with 3:40 to go.
Dexter Akanno scored for the Beavers, but Jakimovski buried a 3-pointer coming out of a media timeout and the Cougars took a two-possession lead with 2:51 remaining. Jakimovski buried another 3-pointer the next time down the court to push the lead to 62-53.
WSU coach Kyle Smith notched the 250th victory of his career, the last 86 with the Cougars. Smith spent six seasons as coach at Columbia and three at San Francisco before taking the job in Pullman, Wash.
Washington State travels to play Oregon on Saturday. Oregon State will host Washington on Saturday.
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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball
Washington
Washington alum Jayden Johannsen returning to MVFC and transferring to Murray State
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – Five years after transferring out of North Dakota State, a former Washington High School star is coming back to the Missouri Valley Football Conference with the chance to play his former school as well as the programs from his home state.
After four stellar seasons at Division Two South Dakota Mines, quarterback Jayden Johannsen will transfer and play his final season of eligibility with the Division FCS Murray State Racers.
At Washington Jayden was a three year starter under center for the Warriors, passing for 2100 yards and 22 touchdowns while rushing for 300 yards and five more scores, helping lead the Warriors to 33 straight wins and three 11AAA state titles.
After graduating in 2019 Johannsen initially went to NDSU but transferred to Mines after one redshirt year where he would throw for nearly 8200 yards and 74 touchdowns and run for another 1600 yards and 24 from 2020 through 2023. He was nominated in 2022 for the Harlon Hill award, Division Two’s version of the Heisman Trophy.
With the addition of Johannsen the Racers now have five quarterbacks on their roster. However, with the other four quarterbacks having combined to play only one game at the college level, Jayden’s experience gives him a good chance to be Murray State’s starting quarterback in 2024.
Should that happen it coincidentally comes in a year where the Racers will play all four Dakota schools. Jayden’s first game against a school from his home state would be against the University of South Dakota in Kentucky on October 5th. A few weeks later, on October 26th, he’d face the program he began his college career with, North Dakota State, also in Murray, Kentucky. Then a week later, on November 2nd, he’d come back to native soil for the Racers game at two-time defending FCS National Champion South Dakota State in Brookings.
Copyright 2024 Dakota News Now. All rights reserved.
Washington
True Freshman Talent at Washington – Khmori House
Washington’s Spring roster featured a handful of early-enrollee freshmen. For players that would otherwise still be in high school, several of them started to show the kind of potential they might have for the future of this program. One of them was linebacker Khmori House. The class of 2024 early-enrollee was a three-star recruit out of St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower, California. The Trinity League in Southern California is known to be one of the nation’s most competitive high school leagues. In three seasons at the varsity level at St. John Bosco, House recorded 118 tackles, 12.5 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, and five pass breakups. He was a productive player at linebacker and strong safety for the Braves. And his transition to Big Ten Football has been fluid thus far.
Recognition from Robert Bala
After Washington’s final open practice of the Spring, we asked linebacker coach Robert Bala if there was a player in his room who had taken the biggest step this Spring. He immediately pointed to the true freshman House. “He’s done a really good job of understanding what we ask him to do either fundamentally, technically, schematically.”
That football knowledge and overall ability to digest the defensive scheme under Bala and Steve Belichick is critical. It will earn him time on the field earlier in his career. Bala continued, “He’s been a bright spot for us this spring and I think he is going to have an opportunity to get on the field a lot earlier in his career.” He’s a player who had been on campus for a little over four months at the time. This recognition speaks volumes to what the coaching staff believes House can be, and how well he’s already been performing.
What Khmori House Does Well
You notice a few things right off the bat when watching House play linebacker. One of which is his size for a true freshman. He is listed at 6’-0” and 187 pounds but his build does not look like that of a true freshman. House uses his size to deliver physical contact on ball carriers and blockers. There were multiple occasions this Spring when we heard a “pop” during the play. A closer look revealed it was the number 28 on the delivering end of the blow. His high school tape backs this up as well. House did not shy away from laying down hard contact. His size helps him be a dependable tackler, bringing players down to the turf consistently.
The other thing that stands out about the linebacker is his speed and athleticism. House’s high school film show him getting up in run fits as well as sliding back into coverage. He is able to use his quickness to get around the offensive line in rush defense and to close in on the wide receiver in pass defense. This Spring, that quickness was on display. House’s footwork during linebacker drills and agility in live play make him a versatile player for Bala.
Khmori House’s Speed in Pressure
One of the plays that stood out this Spring was not one you would see in the stat book. Rather, it was a run-down of Washington’s speedy quarterback Demond Williams Jr. During one of the team scrimmages in April, Williams lined up in shotgun where he took the snap and fled the pocket to his right. He initially looked to have an angle to the outside. But House shot out of the middle level of the defense. The linebacker’s angle and quickness forced Williams to stretch his run to the sideline rather than upfield. Instead of a five-yard gain around the edge, House forced Williams out of bounds for no gain. The awareness and athleticism of House to get an angle on Williams were impressive. Though it was just one small play, it reinforces his potential to be a multi-faceted player on this defense who will see the field early on.
Photo courtesy: Nick Lemkau, Last Word on College Football
Washington
A page from history: George Washington’s inauguration Bible comes to Westport | Westport Journal
By Gretchen Webster
WESTPORT — Many towns in New England claim, “George Washington slept here.” Whether Westport can make that claim or not, Westporters can be certain the Bible used at the inauguration of the nation’s first president has visited Westport.
On Saturday, the 257-year-old George Washington Inaugural Bible was proudly displayed for the community by the men of Westport’s Masonic Lodge, Temple No. 65, to mark the lodge’s 200th anniversary.
The Westport Masonic Lodge was chartered on May 12, 1824, before the town of Westport itself was incorporated, and is one of the oldest organizations in town, according to Richard Ruggiano, worshipful master of the Westport temple.
The hands of four U.S. presidents have rested on the Bible during their inauguration, who in addition to Washington, include Warren G. Harding, Dwight Eisenhower and Jimmy Carter. George W. Bush also would have been sworn in using the Bible, but because it was raining the priceless Bible couldn’t be exposed to the weather, Ruggiano said.
The Bible was also present at the funerals for Washington and Abraham Lincoln, and at ceremonies to lay the cornerstone for both the U.S. Capitol building and the Washington Monument, he said.
“We should be sharing this with our community,” Ruggiano said of the Bible, which is owned by Masonic Lodge St. John’s No. 1 A.Y.M. (Ancient York Masons) in New York. “It has never been shone in Connecticut.”
The Bible’s public display Saturday drew Westport residents, members of nearby Masonic lodges and even “Benjamin Franklin,” a.k.a. Westport lodge member Chris Jennings, who portrayed Franklin. The real Franklin was a friend of Washington’s Jennings said in a presentation to visitors.
In his presentation, Jennings recounted the history preceding Washington’s inauguration, from the perspective of Franklin. He referred to Washington as “a young Virginia militia colonel,” 20 years before he became leader of a new nation.
Washington did not sign the Declaration of Independence because he was in New York state with his troops, according to Jennings, and was one of the nation’s founding fathers who believed it was important for the national legislature to have two houses: the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Washington’s inauguration as the first president of the United States took place in 1789 at Federal Hall in New York City, according to information from St. John’s lodge. It lay open on a crimson velvet cushion when the oath of office was administered to Washington by the first secretary of the U.S. Senate, Samuel Otis. Among those present were the nation’s first vice president, John Adams; the first chief justice of the Supreme Court, John Jay; the first secretary of war, Henry Knox, and the first governor of New York, George Clinton.
Many of the nation’s founders were Masons, Ruggiano said, including Washington himself, his generals and many of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence.
On Saturday, the Inaugural Bible made the trip from Manhattan accompanied by four members of St. John’s lodge, who donned white gloves and flanked the Bible as it was displayed in the local lodge to ensure its safety.
“We hire a conservation organization to take care of it,” said Andreas Vavaroutsos, a member of the New York lodge and part of the group that transported the Bible. The men drove the Bible to the Westport lodge at 210 Post Road East, and planned to drive it back to New York on Saturday evening.
It took Ruggiano many years to arrange for the Bible to be displayed in conjunction with the Westport lodge’s bicentennial, he said. But with arrangements complete and the Bible at the center of attention on a special day for the Westport lodge, he said, “We feel graced and blessed.”
Freelance writer Gretchen Webster, a Fairfield County journalist for many years, was editor of the Fairfield Minuteman and has taught journalism at New York and Southern Connecticut State universities.
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