Former Quaker Valley guard Coletrane Washington settling into role at Drexel
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When the Quaker Valley boys basketball team made back-to-back trips to Pitt’s Petersen Events Center for the WPIAL Class 4A finals in 2017 and ‘18, guard Coletrane Washington shined.
Although the Quakers lost both games, Washington scored 16 and 18 points.
Washington, now a rising junior at Drexel, hopes for a different outcome next season when the Dragons visit Pitt. A Panthers source confirmed the game will be on the schedule, which has not officially been announced.
“I didn’t have the best of luck at The Pete in my high school career, but I think we could definitely expect to come out with a win,” Washington said.
During his high school career, Washington was one of the top players in the WPIAL. He scored 1,548 career points and averaged 21.5 points as a senior.
After two years at Drexel, Washington is starting to carve out a role for himself.
This past season, the 6-foot-4, 170-pound guard led the Colonial Athletic Association in 3-point shooting percentage (43.9%) and averaged 5.1 points in about 14 minutes a game.
Washington also was awarded Drexel’s Samuel D. Cozen Most Improved Player.
“I definitely took a jump (this past year), and I still think there are a lot more things that I can do and just improve on,” Washington said. “But I shot the ball at the level that I know I can shoot it at this past year.”
Washington said he was supposed to redshirt as a freshman, but after the team suffered a few injuries, he was inserted into the rotation. He averaged just over 11 minutes in 24 games, making his debut Dec. 1 against Robert Morris, which was Drexel’s ninth game of the season.
“It was definitely just an adjustment year, especially given that I was so many games behind everyone else, so I sort of got thrown in there,” Washington said. “It was good, because it gave me experience and I’m glad I got that experience, even just being thrown in the fire.”
Washington finished his freshman year averaging 2 points and shooting just over 26% from behind the 3-point line.
Heading into his sophomore year, in which Drexel finished 14-19 and lost in the quarterfinals of the CAA Tournament, Washington was ready to become the player he knew he could be.
“I knew that I wasn’t going to be playing 40 minutes like I did at Quaker Valley, so it was different for me,” Washington said. “I had to come off the bench ready and be able to get into a flow quickly.”
“That was a skill I had to learn because at Quaker Valley I had the ball in my hands a lot, and I was getting a lot of looks. So it’s definitely different coming off the bench and having to be ready to make shots and stuff like that.”
Midway through the season, Washington hit a groove. He scored a career-high 17 points against Towson on Jan. 9, then made a career-high four 3-pointers against William and Mary on Feb. 13. Then, in a Feb. 27 matchup against North Carolina Wilmington, he scored 11 points.
“As I continued to make shots, my confidence grew with each game,” Washington said. “So I’d come in, maybe have six points in eight or 10 minutes, and I was just out there doing my job for my team. That was my role, do those two things at the highest level I could.”
At Quaker Valley, Washington’s game evolved each year. He transitioned from a shooting specialist to a three-level scorer, and during his senior year, he controlled the entire offense.
Washington is hoping for that same type of manifestation the next two seasons at Drexel.
“I made a good jump (this season), and I think I can make an even bigger jump heading into my junior year, adding more to my game, sort of like I did at Quaker Valley,” Washington said.