James Wood boys end skid in district

Potter pours in 20 in win over Skyline
February 4, 2012
By KEVIN TRUDGEON

WINCHESTER- It had been almost two years since the James Wood boys' basketball team had won a Northwestern District regular season game.

A 0-8 run last season and an 0-6 start to this year had left some Colonel fans wondering if that victory would ever come.

As it turns out, all it took was a inspired defensive effort and some clutch free-throw shooting.

Hosting a Skyline team that had already beaten them once this season, the Colonels forced 28 turnovers and went 9 for 11 from the charity stripe over the final two minutes to pull out a 73-66 win at Shirley Gymnasium.

"Finally got that district win," said senior guard Chad Potter, who finished with a team-high 20 points and was a perfect 4 for 4 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter.

"We didn't get one last year, so get it tonight, especially on senior night, it's big."

Potter, who was one of four Colonel seniors (Jake Lewin, Logan Yost and Mel Savarese) who were honored in a ceremony before the game, made sure that his final time play in Shirley Gymnasium was a memorable one.

James Wood (9-12, 1-6 Northwestern District) started slow, falling behind 10-4 after Skyline's Ryan Dyke (team-high 17 points) scored inside and teammate Dayvon Haight hit two free throws.

But using their patented high-octane offense and pressure defense, the Colonels quickly recovered.

Potter scored on a drive to the basket and sophomore Cam Butler and Lewin followed with consecutive 3-pointers to help James Wood take a 19-16 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The game would remain tight throughout the second quarter, with the Colonels taking a two-point lead into halftime thank to two late free throws from sophomore Ryland Williams, and Skyline (12-7, 2-5) would actually tie the score at 44-44 late in the third.

But that's when the James Wood defense flexed its muscle.

Utilizing a 3-2 zone that stretched the length of the court and trapped the ball immediately off the inbound pass, the Colonels forced three straight turnovers that led to 3-pointers from Butler (10 points) and Potter and a driving layup from sophomore Peyton Crickman (14 points) to push the lead to eight.

"You're going to turn it over some [when you play James Wood], but it's the spotty turnovers that always seemed to happen at critical times that hurt us," said Skyline coach Sonny Dyke.

"Some of them are forced turnovers, I can live with that, but some are silly, silly things that we're just not consistent with."

James Wood led 52-46 after three quarters and went into a slow-down offense late in the fourth, forcing Skyline to foul and send the Colonels to the free-throw line.

They hit nine of their first 10 attempts - and Williams (nine points) added a layup off a steal - to seal the victory.

"We practice [free throws] every day. When we have shootarounds after school before games, everyone has shoots 50 free throws," said James Wood Coach Al Smith.

"It was a heck of a win for us. I thought defensively we did a good job of getting back and covering up the backside, which is critical. The only way to do that is to really sprint your rear end off and get down there and the guys were really doing that tonight."

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