Handley Boys Open With 17-Point Run, Rout James Wood 58-25

Posted: January 31, 2015
By KEVIN TRUDGEON
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — The Handley boys’ basketball team didn’t come out of the gate firing on all cylinders Friday evening.

In fact, the Judges didn’t even attempt a shot until more than a minute had elapsed off the clock after winning the opening tip in their game against area rival James Wood.

But when senior Noah Sirbaugh drilled a 3-pointer off a perfect drive-and-kick from freshman Michael Brown, the flood gates opened for a Handley offense that had been content to probe and pass early on.

Sirbaugh’s basket kick-started a 17-point run for the Judges and signaled a quick end to James Wood’s chances of splitting the season series as Handley cruised to a 58-25 rout at Maddex-Omps Gymnasium.

“We came out from the beginning and what I saw tonight for four quarters is what I’ve seen glimpses of throughout the season, whether in practices or games,” said Handley coach Jason Toton.

“At times we’ve come out of the gate and tried to do too much too early, but I thought we didn’t take any forced shots like we’ve done in the past. Everybody put it together, everybody shared the ball, and I think this shows that whenever we get everybody going on all cylinders and on the same page, we can be a pretty dangerous team.”

Friday’s result was a far cry from the 43-42 nail-biter that Handley (5-13, 3-4 Northwestern District) pulled out in their first meeting with James Wood (5-11, 0-7).

In that game the difference came at the free-throw line in the fourth quarter, but the rematch was decided in the first six minutes of play.

Sirbaugh’s 3-pointer was quickly followed by a steal and layup from senior KeSean Robinson (team-high 15 points and five rebounds), and Sirbaugh provided the bookend with another 3-pointer off another Brown assist.

A drive and score from senior Cullan Kerner prompted James Wood coach Tim Wygant to call a timeout, but that did little to stop the Judges.

Brown, who finished with five assists, got in the action with a 3-pointer of his own, sophomore Quentin Davenport came off the bench and scored on a drive, and by the time Brown picked off an errant pass and found Davenport leaking out for a layup, the score had ballooned to 17-0.

“We burned two or three timeouts in the first two or three minutes and it didn’t help,” Wygant said. “From a coach’s perspective, you attempt to disrupt the flow of the game hopefully, but it didn’t stop anything. It was one of those situations where we were ready for the game to be over before the first quarter was done, and it’s difficult to pull them out of it if they are not willing to do it.”

A free throw from Colonel freshman Chandler Brooks (seven points and eight rebounds) finally broke the scoring drought with 2:12 remaining in the first quarter, but it did little to slow down the Judges.

With James Wood unable to buy a basket on the offensive end — the Colonels missed their first seven shots, made just 2 of 19 in the first half and finished with five field goals total in the game — Handley kept increasing its lead.

Up 21-5 at the end of the first quarter, Robinson took over for in the second, scoring nine of the Judges’ 11 points and more than doubling the Colonels’ output all by himself as Handley entered halftime with a 32-9 lead.

“We were all clicking and it was just great team ball,” said Sirbaugh, who was one of 10 players to score for the Judges. “Everybody was being unselfish, nobody was just trying to get theirs, and the shots were falling for us.”

Even when things didn’t go right for Handley the ball seemed to bounce its way.

Coming out in the second half Robinson missed a breakaway dunk only to get a another chance seconds later, courtesy of one of James Wood’s 18 turnovers, and stuffed home a two-handed slam.

Freshman Gus Wise hit a pair of 3-pointers, fellow freshman Kobe Tigney (five points, five rebounds, three assists and five steals) was a terror on the defensive end and the Judges led by as much as 37 before both teams emptied their benches in the fourth quarter.

For the game Handley shot 48 percent from the field (22 of 46) and 44 percent from beyond the arc (7 of 16) while totaling 13 steals and 14 assists.

“We always seem to have a letdown here or there, but tonight we didn’t,” Toton said. “We’ve seen glimpses of this here and there, but hopefully this is a sign that we can keep doing it at the end of the season and peak heading into the postseason.”

Peaking at the right time was something the Colonels thought they were doing after back-to-back close losses to Millbrook and Sherando, but Friday’s loss left Wygant searching for answers.

“The bottom line is that it was 100 percent about effort tonight,” said Wygant, whose team finished 5 for 37 from the field. “I don’t know if it was the day off yesterday, I don’t know if it was the bus ride over here, I don’t know if it was the fact that it was the first time they had school in a long time. I have no idea what the issue was, but to a man they were not ready to go. You could tell from the looks on their faces right from the opening tip that they just were not ready to play.

“But give Handley all the credit in the world. They were extremely hot and they hit a lot of shots. They came out and hit us in the mouth and we decided to go back to the corner.”

— Contact Kevin Trudgeon at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Follow on Twitter @WinStarSports