Boys’ Basketball Season Outlook: Three New Coaches Coincide With Change In Playoff Format

Posted: December 19, 2013
By KEVIN TRUDGEON

Senior guard Solomon Finley is one of six key returners from a Handley team that reached the Group AA, Division 3 quarterfinals last year. (Photo by Scott Mason/The Winchester Star)

Senior Andy King and the Clarke County Eagles will have to navigate through a condensed schedule during the early part of the season. (Photo by Jeff Taylor/The Winchester Star)
WINCHESTER — With three coaching changes, a new postseason format and a long list of graduated seniors, it’s safe to say that the area boys’ basketball scene is going to look a little different this year.

But fans shouldn’t expect a drop in talent, or district pride, from the local teams.

Gone is a trio of established leaders who guided their teams to success over the years, but their replacements have already shown that they have no intention of taking a step back this season.

Longtime Handley assistant coach Jason Toton has taken over for Tommy Dixon, who retired after a 27-year career that saw the Judges win 403 games and three Region II championships, and has the Judges off to a quick 3-0 start this season.

James Wood assistant Tim Wygant has replaced Al Smith, who left for a coaching job at Tuscarora after leading the Colonels to three playoff appearances over five years, and has tallied four wins in four tries.

And Derek Butler has filled the role vacated by Scott Mankins, who stepped down after 10 years at Millbrook that included the 2008 Group AA state championship, and notched his first victory of the season Tuesday.

Add in the return of veteran coaches like Sherando’s Garland Williams (in his 17th year with the Warriors), Clarke County’s Brent Emmart (17th) and SVCA’s Ron Combs (32nd) and there’s no doubting the level of coaching talent in the area.

“It’s a little strange not seeing some of the coaches [on the bench] but the new guys are doing a good job with their teams,” Williams said. “Anytime you play locally with Handley, James Wood, Millbrook, you always want to play well and we’re not going to take anyone lightly.”

That message holds true not just for the traditional local rivalries but also a number of new opponents that area teams, and fans, will want to pay attention to this season.

With the move to the six-classification system this year there is no longer a Northwestern District tournament (the Bull Run District will still hold a tournament even though it will have no bearing on the postseason) and conference tournaments will now serve as the first round of playoff competition.

James Wood, Sherando and Millbrook play in Conference 21 of the Group 4A North Region with Dominion, Heritage, Loudoun County, Woodgrove and Park View. Handley plays in Conference 23 (also of the 4A North) with Fluvanna, Charlottesville, Amherst County, Louisa County and Harrisonburg.

How teams fair in their districts will determine seeding in the conference tournament, and the top two teams to reach the conference finals will then advance to the regional tournament. From there the two teams in the regional finals will move on to the state semifinals.

“It’s brand new to me with how they’re doing it, but you still want to do well in the district in order to set yourself up for the conference tournament,” Butler said.

Most agree that Handley is the favorite in the Northwestern District, and for good reason.

The Judges return six players — including the reigning Region II, Division 3 Player of the Year in 6-foot-8 senior Cameron Jackson — who saw extensive playing time on last year’s Group AA, Division 3 quarterfinal team.

“It’s a good group, I’ve known most of them since they were in fifth grade and they play well together,” Toton said. “With the success we’ve had the last couple years, the kids having that taste of going to the state playoffs, they’re eager to get back.”

James Wood is in a similar situation as it returns nearly its entire roster from last season, including five senior captains.

Wygant said the Colonels won’t be running “The System” that Smith instituted the last two years, but they will still play an uptempo style.

“In comparison to the system we’ve run the last couple years, we still want to get quick shots, but we want higher-percentage shots,” Wygant said. “We’re taking a little more time, but not a lot more. We still want to play high-pressure defense from baseline to baseline and be in your face.”

Millbrook and Sherando graduated 17 seniors between them and will be relying on some new faces to lead the way this season.

The Warriors have a pair of 6-foot-7 players in sophomore Grant Golden, who was offered a scholarship by James Madison University over the summer, and senior Jeremiah Curtis, who transferred back to Sherando after playing for Middleburg Academy last year, who should help them through a hectic next few weeks due to their season being delayed by the football team advancing to the state championship game.

The Pioneers lost Northwestern District Player of the Year Rze Culbreath, but do return senior Bryce Hicks and juniors Zach Harrell and Chris Oates to provide some leadership, and scoring punch, for a team with a lot of new faces.

Clarke County — which plays in Conference 35 of the Group 2A East Region with George Mason, Madison County, Stonewall Jackson, Strasburg, Luray and Page County — must replace its two leading scorers from a year ago in Davey Hardesty and Cody Taylor, and will have to do so on a condensed schedule as well.

“We have a pretty solid team, but the lack of practice time is going to hurt us,” said Emmart, who wasn’t able to hold full tryouts until after the football team finished its postseason run. “We’ve had a lot of games pushed back and sandwiched in, so we’re just going to have to have all hands on deck and guys are going to have to be ready to go.”

SVCA brings back leading scorer Evan Hotek and an influx of young talent, and Combs is optimistic about the Patriots’ chances this season.

“I believe we’re a lot better than we were last year,” Combs said. “We have a lot more speed and we’re a pretty good defensive team. We played some really tough teams to start the season, but I think that’s only going to help us as we go along.”

Following is a glance at the area teams:

Handley

Coach: Jason Toton, 1st year

Last year: 21-5 (6-2 Northwestern District, district tournament champions, Group AA, Division 3 quarterfinalist)

This season: 3-0

Key losses: Jacob Rudolph, Darion Robinson, Buster Wigley

Key returnees: Tre Brown, Sr. G; Solomon Finley, Sr. G; Cameron Jackson , Sr. C; Jason Morgan, Sr. G; KeSean Robinson, Jr. F; Will Dearing, Jr. F.

Top newcomers: Ben Nelson, Jr. F; Cullan Kerner, Jr. G; Noah Sirbaugh, So. F; D.J. Frisby, Jr. G.

Toton’s outlook: “When I took the program over I told the kids that the bar has been set for where we’ve been in the past, but over a period of time I want to raise that bar. We’ve made the quarterfinals the last couple years, but if we work hard and get some breaks here and there we can go even further.”

Next game: Dec. 27, at L.C. Byrd Tournament

Millbrook

Coach: Derek Butler, 1st year

Last year: 14-12 (5-3 Northwestern District, Group AA, Division 4 quarterfinalist)

This season: 1-5

Key losses: Pioneers graduated nine seniors, including Rze Culbreath, Adrian DeNeal, Brandon Kibbe and T.J. Bruce

Key returnees: Bryce Hicks, Sr. F; Zach Harrell, Jr. G; Chris Oates, Jr. F.

Top newcomers: Colin Benner, Jr. F (transfer from James Wood); Donte Weaver, So. G; Taryk Baylor, So. F.

Butler’s outlook: “We’re going through some growing pains at the moment, but I think we’ll benefit from playing some really good teams to start the season. The teams who are going to give us the most trouble are teams with length, but we can find ways to get around that. Chris and Zach are both captains for us and we just need to lean on some of the guys who’ve been there before to help carry the load on offense.”

Next game: Friday, vs. Loudoun Valley, 7:30 p.m.

Sherando

Coach: Garland Williams, 17th year

Last year: 14-9 (7-1 Northwestern District, district regular season champions, Region II, Division 4 quarterfinalist)

This season: 0-2

Key losses: Warriors graduated eight seniors, including Aaron Miller, Tanner Ruths and Taylor Loudan

Key returnees: Isaiah Williams, Sr. G; Dilan Heskett, Sr. G; Grant Golden, So. F.

Top newcomers: Jordan Henry, Jr. G; Kyle Tusing, Jr. F; Jeremiah Curtis, Sr. C (transfer from Middleburg Academy); Jonathon Hughes, Jr. F; Thomas Perry, Sr. G.

Williams outlook: “We want to get the ball inside more than we have recently with the size we have. And we’ll try to push it when we can, but we’re really going to focus on defense. We think we can do a much better job defensively. We were a little better last year, but we’re still really striving to get better defensively and get the stops that we need.”

Next game: Friday, Hedgesville Tournament

James Wood

Coach: Tim Wygant, 1st year

Last year: 11-15 (1-7 Northwestern District)

This season: 4-0

Key losses: Michael Carter, Brett Lewin

Key returnees: Ryland Williams, Sr. G; Camden Butler, Sr. G; Peyton Crickman, Sr. G/F; Nick Goode, Sr. G; Dakota Orndorff Sr. F; Josh Akeley, Sr. F; Branson Ratlief, Jr. F; Tyler Bishop, So. G.

Top newcomers: Brant Bell, Sr. G (transfer from Middleburg Academy); Jake Akeley, Sr. F.

Wygant’s outlook: “They’ve really taken a position of ownership over the team. We have nine or 10 returning varsity players and they’ve all taken an immense sense of pride to assert themselves not only as leaders on the court, but also as leaders in the school. They want to establish themselves as a new beginning for James Wood basketball.”

Next game: Tonight, at Washington (W.Va), 7:30 p.m.

Clarke County

Coach: Brent Emmart, 17th year

Last year: 13-13 (9-5 Bull Run District, Region B, Division 2 quarterfinalist)

This season: 2-2, 1-2 Bull Run

Key losses: Davey Hardesty, Cody Taylor

Key returnees: Sean McDonald, Jr. G; Morgan Warfield, Sr. G; Josh Dulaney, Sr. C; Andy King, Sr. G; Colton Chrane, Sr. C.

Top newcomers: Vince Zdouba, Jr. F; Carson Perkins, Jr. G; Justin Dulaney, Jr. F; Josh Gray, Sr. G.

Emmart’s outlook: With the way our conference is set up we could finish anywhere from first all the way down to fifth. Team chemistry is going to be important because a lot of these guys played football together. We’re not going to have much practice time because of having so many games over the break and them being so close together, but the guys have the determination. And we’re going to be the strongest team on the court most nights.”

Next game: Tonight, at Central, 7:45 p.m.

SVCA

Coach: Ron Combs, 32nd year

Last year: 16-12 (VACA state quarterfinalist)

This season: 2-3

Key losses: Mike Powell, Chris Cook

Key returnee: Evan Hotek, Sr. G; Tanner Foster, Jr. F; Jacob Rash, So. F; Lucas Pufnock, Jr. G; Matt Tennant, Sr. F; Madison Brewer, Jr. G.

Top newcomers: Devin McDonagh, Sr. F; Patrick McGrath, Sr. F; Shyheem Gilkerson, Fr. G; Aaron Sutton Fr. G; Tyler Fincham, Fr. G.

Combs’ outlook: “We’re hosting the VACA North regional tournament this year so we’re hoping we can win the region and see how things go from there. We’ve got a lot more scoring options this year, which should help Evan out, but we’ve got a tough schedule.”

Next game: Tonight, vs. Mountain View Christian Academy, 8 p.m.

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