Washington drops 17 in standout showing at final combine scrimmage

Duane Washington put forth a solid, if somewhat ho-hum, nine-point effort in his first NBA Combine scrimmage on Thursday, but the Ohio State guard upped the ante on Friday.

THURSDAY'S RECAP: Washington ties team-high mark with 9 points in NBA Combine scrimmage

In the final five-on-five competition of the event, Washington scored a team-high 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting, coming alive in an aggressive second-half performance that saw the All-Big Ten performer show off both his patented range and improved ability to score inside.

Washington’s Team 2 squad lost its second-straight game Friday, but it was far from the fault of the Ohio State combo guard, who also registered a pair of assists and got to the free-throw line for four attempts.

Now that the scrimmage opportunities have concluded at the combine in Chicago, let’s take a look at Washington’s Friday performance in closer detail.

Unlike Thursday’s scrimmage, Washington started out on the bench for Team 2 on Friday, but entered the game about six minutes into the action, playing the subsequent eight-or-so minutes and then the final stretch of the half after a brief respite in between.

Washington ran some point in the first half, mostly looking to facilitate offense and find the open man after logging a team-high four assists in his first combine scrimmage performance, but the prolific scorer got his own offense going a bit as well.

Just a minute into his first rotation, Washington got out in transition and drew a foul on a fastbreak layup, knocking down both free throws.

Washington missed his first 3-point attempt of the half, but knocked down his second one, drilling a long-range bomb from well beyond the line on a quick release catch-and-shoot from the top of the key after a long rebound.

A couple of Washington passes stood out as well during the first period. The Michigan native threw a no-look to Howard’s Makur Maker under the basket where he was fouled, and Washington made another nice play when he tossed an extra pass to Seton Hall’s Sandro Mamukelashvili for a wide open 3-pointer, even though the shot didn’t fall.

Starting out the second half, Washington wasted no time keeping his offense rolling after the late 3-point make. The Buckeye guard went coast-to-coast on the very first possession of the second half, faking a handoff at the 3-point line to free himself up for a drive to the hoop where he made an athletic move to score over a defender.

Around two minutes later, Washington looked to score again on a drive to the rack from the corner, but after drawing two defenders to him, Washington dumped the ball off for a nice assist to Marquette’s Sam Hauser inside.

Handling the rock again several possessions later, Washington used a screen from Maker to get inside and hit a floater near the elbow –– his third field goal of the contest.

Washington was firing on all cylinders late in the half, scoring on two different drives to the basket and drawing a foul on another.

With two minutes to go, Washington pulled up from deep to drain a 3 before taking his man one-on-one on the very next possession, driving to the hoop for a scoop-in layup.

Washington displayed a level of offensive aggression that seemed to be lacking a little bit in his first scrimmage performance, and he earned a considerably higher amount of praise from the ESPN commentary booth as well during the telecast.

Washington was clearly in rhythm late, and if not for being pulled from the game in the final 90 seconds or so, he might have been able to keep it going for a couple extra hoops before all was said and done.

With the NBA Draft taking place on July 29, Washington has until July 19 to make a final decision about whether or not he will remain in the draft or withdraw. Ohio State’s E.J. Liddell, who was not invited to the combine, has not yet announced his decision either.