Handley boys roll over Wood, 102-83

January 27, 2012
By Kevin Trudgeon

WINCHESTER- For as much hype as the James Wood boys' basketball team has gotten for its fast-paced, high-scoring brand of basketball this year, there may be a another team in town that can do it even better.

Hosting Handley in a Northwestern District contest that was postponed twice due to inclement weather a week earlier, the Colonels watched the Judges beat them at their own game.

Handley forced turnovers. Handley got out in transition. And Handley scored in bunches.

Easily eclipsing their previous season high by 10 points, the Judges topped the century mark in a 102-83 win over James Wood at Shirley Gymnasium Thursday night.

Handley (11-4, 3-2 district) shot 58 percent from the field (45 of 78) and dominated on the boards against the smaller Colonels.

Coming off a loss to Millbrook on Tuesday, the Judges were eager to bounce back and had no problem pushing the tempo against James Wood (6-11, 0-5). "We want to run," said Handley coach Tommy Dixon. "I think we have a group that can get out and run. It all depends on how we do on defense and I think we did a pretty good job defending the ball tonight.

"I was happy with the adjustments we made on the floor and I thought the guys followed our game plan. We looked up the floor, we penetrated and we did the things we needed to do."

That included breaking the James Wood press time and time again.

With the Colonels looking to trap in the back court off almost every made basket or dead ball, the Judges put on a clinic in finding the open space in the press and taking advantage.

Guards Chris Skinner, Robbie Lawler and Dexter Sloane continually eluded defenders off the dribble and forwards Kyle Murph and Darion Robinson made a living in the paint, either finding the open man or converting an easy layup.

Over one two-minute span late in the second quarter the Judges went on a 10-0 run that consisted of two free throws and four straight layups.

Lawler (18 points) hit two 3-pointers in the first quarter but the majority of Handley's points came from point-blank range.

"The expectations for us was to get a hand up on their shooters, box out, rebound and push the ball," said Robinson, who finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

"We knew they wanted to run fast and we were ready to run fast. We wanted to hit the middle [on the press break] because that opens up the floor and leads to easy layups."

After leading by just two at the end of the first quarter (23-21), the Judges opened the game up with their late run in the second to take a 14-point halftime lead.

A 19-8 run to open the second half pushed the lead to 70-45 and James Wood simply did not have an answer.

"[Our defense] wasn't there," James Wood coach Al Smith said. "I thought defensively we just weren't where we wanted to be and they took advantage.

"And we gave up 31 offensive rebounds. I don't care what you're facing, you just can't give up those types of numbers and expect to win. I'm not sure how many put backs they had off of those 31 offensive rebounds, but if they just scored on 50 percent of them that's 30 points right there."

Smith said he was encouraged by one stretch late in the third quarter when the junior guards Nick Foura (14 points) and Michael Carter (17 points) combined to hit four consecutive 3-pointers to help close the deficit to 77-61, but the moment was short lived.

Murph (10 points, 14 rebounds) hit on a stick back at the buzzer to end the quarter and Handley scored 14 of the first 19 points in the fourth to push lead back up to 27 as sophomore center Cameron Jackson added to his game-high 21 points with back-to-back layups.

All told 10 different players scored for the Judges and the entire team saw the floor in the victory.

"It was just a fun game to be in," Robinson said. "It was intense, the crowd was hyped and everyone was into it. And it's a huge win for us, especially after Millbrook. We wanted to come out here and get a win on the road and that's what we did."

Dowrey finished with 13 points and Sloane added 10 points off the bench as six different players scored in double figures for Handley.

Senior Chad Potter finished with a team-high 19 points for the Colonels, who hit 10 3-pointers in the game but still walked away looking for their first district win of the season.

"We're still working on getting to where we want to be, it's taking a little bit longer than we'd like," Smith said. "But I thought there was a five-minute span there where I saw what this [system] can be.

"We were flying all over the court, we dribbled and we kicked to the open guy for wide-open shots and we knocked them down. If we can expand that to a quarter, then expand that to a half and take care of the lapses we have here and there, we can start turning these games into wins."

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