The Washington boys looked like a team primed for state tournament play as they cruised past Dubuque Hempstead 56-31 Tuesday night in a 4A substate final at the U.S. Cellular Center.

The Warriors completely throttled the Mustangs’ only real scoring threat. And once they got their own offensive motor running in the second half, the Warriors put the pedal to the metal.

“Coach (Brad) Metzger told us at halftime to keep putting the pressure on and to blow the game out,” said Washington senior sharpshooter Josh Oglesby.

“Then they opened the second half with a couple of 3s. That seemed to get us motivated. It really got us going and got me going, too.”

Oglesby led all scorers with 22 points, 18 of them coming in the second half. He hit five 3-point goals.

As usual, running mate Wes Washpun provided the rest of the Warrior offensive punch. He pitched in with 18 points on a variety of acrobatic moves, including a flurry one minute just before halftime when he had two jumpers on either side of a high-flying runaway dunk after a steal.

Washpun's six quick points gave Washington a comfortable 27-9 cushion at the break.

“It was another good defensive night for us,” said Metzger. “We held the other team to the low 30s, which is what we wanted to do.”

Metzger said a similar effort is going to be needed when Washington (17-8)  faces Linn-Mar (23-0) for the third time this season in the first round of the state tournament next Wednesday at 1:45 p.m. in Des Moines. It is Washington's second straight trip to the state tournament. The Warriors lost to eventual state champion Ames in the first round of last year's tournament.

Oglesby said pace of play will be the key to bumping off the top-ranked Lions.

 “We’ll have to slow the tempo down, slow the pace of the game and concentrate on getting good shots,” he said.

For the Hempstead Mustangs (11-13), Tuesday’s loss put the brakes on their magic bus ride of a season.

Eight of the losses this year came on their home court, two others were in Dubuque against Wahlert and Senior High and only three were on out-of-town trips at Pleasant Valley, Kennedy and again last night.

 “We were 7-3 when we got on the yellow school bus,” said third-year Coach Curt Deutsch. “For some reason, we played better on the road.”

Their season-ending game was an exception. They seemed to wilt under the bright lights.

“This is all new to us, playing before a big crowd on a big floor,” Deutsch said. “We just weren’t ready to play. It wasn’t our night.”

His team missed the first eight shots they took, fell behind 10-0 and never could catch up.

Normally potent post man Gage Heffernan was bottled up by stifling Warrior zone defense and saw very few touches all night. He ended up with just six points and none of his teammates could pick up the slack.

“Wash did a great job on Gage,” Deutsch said. “And our shots weren’t falling. It was the wrong night to have a bad game.”

HEMPSTEAD (31): Crawford 0 0-0 0, Johnson 3 0-0 7, Duwe 3 0-0 7, Smith 0 0-0 0, Goerdt 0 0-0 0, Viertel 1 0-0 2, Leach 2 2-4 6, Breitbach 1 0-0 3, Heffernan 2 1-6 6. Totals 12 3-10 31.

WASHINGTON (56): Carr 1 0-0 2, Tann 0 0-0 0, Washpun 9 0-1 18, Moa 1 0-0 3, Oglesby 8 1-2 22, Hoekstra 0 0-0 0, Oney 1 0-0 2, Bergstrom 0 0-0 0, Matteson 0 0-0 0, Rosenthal 0 0-0 0, Bredl 4 1-1 9, Williams 0 0-0 0, Todd 0 0-0 0. Totals 24 2-4 56.

Halftime -- Washington 27, Hempstead 9. 3-point goals -- Hempstead 4 (Johnson, Duwe, Breitbach, Heffernan), Washington 6 (Oglesby 5, Moa).