The Washington Demon boys’ basketball team seeks a crucial conference win when they visit Burlington tonight in a game you can hear on KCII. Washington is 7-6 overall but is 5-2 in the Southeast Conference. If the Demons want to win at least a share of the league championship for a fourth straight season, they’ll need some trends of late to continue. Senior scoring leader Ethan Patterson has started to catch fire shooting three-pointers, hitting better than 42 percent from deep over his last five games and averaging better than 18 points per game.

Washington sophomore Logan McDole has also played his best offense of late, averaging better than 10 points a game and hitting more than half his shot attempts since the new year. But Demons head coach Collin Stark tells KCII Sports that, if his team is going to finish the season strong, they’ll need to bring the defensive effort they displayed when they beat Burlington 59-44 in December.

“We need to make sure that we make it as difficult as possible on their two guys that, between the two of them, are averaging 51 [points],” Stark says. “For us to hold the whole team to 44 says a lot to them. I thought our guys even played defense the right way as well, keeping hands off and really just using our bodies. And the help-side defense was really the best it’s been all year.”

Washington trails both Mount Pleasant and the Burlington Greyhounds in the Southeast Conference standings, needing to win out to claim at least a split conference title. Burlington is 12-4 and is led by one of the state’s leading scorers in Merquiche Lewis Jr., who is averaging better than 25 points per contest. While the Washington girls host Burlington, you catch the Demons on the road against the Greyhounds this evening on 106.1 FM KCII, with coverage beginning with the Washington HyVee Pregame Show at 7.