Heritage Edges Wood Boys’ Basketball, 59-57

Posted: January 14, 2014
By GREG BRILL
Special to The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — For all intents and purposes, the James Wood boys’ basketball team could not hit shots when it mattered.

The Colonels clanked plenty of shots from the field in the first half, shooting just 35 percent to trail Heritage by three points at the break.

The percentage went up a tad in the second half, but James Wood still found getting a key basket — or free throw, for that matter — hard to come by down the stretch.

Heritage held James Wood without a point over the final 3:41 and scored the last six points of Monday night’s non-district (and Conference 21) game to escape with a 59-57 win at Donald H. Shirley Gymnasium.

“We did a lot of good things in the third quarter [to rally back], but in the middle of the fourth quarter I think we got a little impatient and we started looking at the clock and hoping that it was going to strike zero when we were ahead, instead of continuously being diligent on the offensive and defensive side and doing the same things that got us to that point,” James Wood coach Tim Wygant said. “We never said take your foot off the gas. We never said you need to hold the ball.

“We needed to do what got us there — taking high-percentage shots, working the basketball around, getting the ball inside, and working inside-out. ... We got away from that.”

To win it in the end, the Pride (3-9 overall) got a good break with A.J. Gray’s game-winning basket with seven seconds left, then made one last stop on the defensive end when Stanley Seldon got a hand on Nick Goode’s 3-point attempt just before the final horn.

Not a bad turnaround for Heritage, which got blown out 80-53 at home on Dec. 17 by James Wood (7-4).

First-season Heritage coach Rob Smart (he coached the Pride’s girls’ the last few seasons) was pleased his defense had a much better effort than it gave last month, and he said part of being able to frustrate James Wood shooters was paying a little bit more attention this time to Colonels senior playmaker Ryland Williams.

“Defense was the big thing,” Smart said. “Ryland Williams is such a dynamic player. He’s strong, but not too strong with his left hand, so we pushed him [out] a little bit. He’s good with penetration, but we talked about not letting him get to the paint and give it to the bigs down low. We were able to front the bigs down low a lot better this time.”

James Wood went to the fourth down 50-46, but an 11-3 run to start the period had the Colonels up four and in good shape.

James Wood scored inside-out, as senior forward Peyton Crickman (12 of his team-high 18 points came in the second half) scored three baskets in close and senior guard Brant Bell hit his third 3-pointer of the half.

When Crickman knocked down a pair of free throws with 3:41 left, James Wood had a 57-53 lead.

Then it all came apart. The Colonels had a few turnovers, missed a few shots, and Williams missed a free throw in the bonus that could have sent James Wood back ahead with 29 seconds left.

In between, Morris Robinson got a stickback and Seldon scored off a baseline drive to tie the game at 57.

After Williams missed his free throw, Seldon rebounded and the Pride took a timeout. Heritage then took time off the clock before Robinson (13 points, four assists) started his drive in the lane with under 10 seconds left.

As he went up, Cam Butler got a hand on the ball and it deflected out to a waiting Gray on the left block. Gray had an easy shot, and he put it in with seven seconds left for a 59-57 lead.

It was Gray’s only points of the game.

After coming back from a timeout it called with 6.4 seconds left, James Wood inbounded to Williams, who raced up the court and spotted Goode off the right wing. Goode had a tough shot right away and Seldon defended it well, getting his block to seal the victory for Heritage.

Smart credited several of his players for stepping up, including Robinson, who helped make up for a loss of scoring in the second half from junior guard Jesse Case, who torched the Colonels early (he had 14 of his team-high 18 points before the break). Seldon also scored eight of his 10 points in the second half for the Pride.

The loss was somewhat of a downer for the Colonels, who have suffered three defeats at home this season all ready, including two in rematches against teams they beat by double-digits the first time around.

James Wood ended up shooting just 37 percent (23 of 62) from the field and 42 percent (5 of 12) from the foul line. From 3-point land, the percentage shrank (6 of 25, 24 percent) even more.

A few more makes here and there, and the Colonels might have been able to pull it out.

Williams finished up with 10 points and junior forward Branson Ratlief scored all 10 of his points in the first half for James Wood.

The Colonels were outscored in every period but the fourth.

“Not to take anything away from Heritage — because their game plan was wonderful — but I felt as though we took ourselves out of what we do best,” Wygant said. “I think we’re a very, very good team when we are patient on offense and take high-percentage shots. Our kids are used to those shots going in, and the last couple games, they haven’t gone in.

“A lot of them [Monday] were open shots, it’s just not the ones we want in certain situations.”