James Wood Holds Off Liberty For Boys’ Basketball Win

Posted: December 5, 2015
By JERRY HOLSWORTH
Special to The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — After dominating play for three quarters, James Wood survived a fierce comeback by Liberty to prevail 71-65 in boys’ basketball action on Friday.

The Colonels (2-0) were saved from a devastating collapse in the final period by the free throw shooting of Robert Jackson.

Wood, which had only six field goal attempts through the entire fourth quarter and committed nine turnovers, was victimized by torrid shooting from the Eagles (1-1).

With Wood leading 54-35 at the end of the third quarter, Liberty connected on 11 of its 18 field goal attempts, including two 3-pointers, and outscored the Colonels 30-17 over the final eight minutes of play.

As the Eagles chipped away at the Colonel lead, they turned to fouling Wood to stop the clock and force the Colonels to make foul shots. Jackson kept the Eagles at bay with a 10-for-12 performance from the line.

Despite Jackson’s heroics, back-to-back buckets by David Milton narrowed Wood’s lead to 66-63 with just 33 seconds to play.

With half a minute left and the game now a one-possession contest, the Eagles made the mistake of fouling Colonel forward Chandler Brooks immediately after Wood put the ball in play.

“We didn’t want to foul him at that point in the game,” Liberty coach Pat Frader said. “That was a mistake. When you have a team on the ropes like that you don’t bail them out and let them shoot free throws.”

If the Eagles were going to foul at that point in the game, they couldn’t have picked a better player to foul than Brooks who had connected on just 2 of 6 free throws attempts during the game.

Brooks, however, nailed both, putting Wood up by five with just 31 seconds left. Two more free throws by Jackson and another by Noah Sullivan sealed Liberty’s fate.

“The big difference in the fourth quarter was that we started to hit some shots,” Liberty coach Pat Frader said. “But you have to hand it to [Robert] Jackson. He’s a really good player and he really came through for them tonight. Hitting 10 of 12 from the line in the final minutes of play, and finishing with 29 points was just phenomenal.

“Our guys played hard through the whole game. This is just the second game of the season. We still have 20 games left. Wood has a really good team, but to come back from 20 points behind and get it to just one possession with 30 seconds still to play was a great accomplishment.”

“We just didn’t continue to attack on both ends of the court with the same tenacity that we did in the first three quarters,” Colonel coach Tim Wygant said. “I thought that our team actually played better than I coached tonight. We just got a little complacent, and it just shows that basketball is a game of runs, and they had a good one in the fourth quarter.

“The good thing about this is that no one gets better in blowouts,” he added. “I thought that both teams showed a lot of character at the end.”

Wood built such a big lead that its was able to endure a breakdown in the final eight minutes.

The Colonels began the game with a brilliant performance on both ends of the floor, hitting 7 of their first 11 field goal attempts, including two 3-pointers by Aidan Houser. While the Colonels were hot their defense held Liberty to just 3 of 13 from the field, and forced four Eagle turnovers as they led 17-6.

Liberty rebounded in the second quarter, thanks to a 5 of 6 performance at the line, and a respectable 6 of 14 from the field. Wood kept pace and led 32-24 at halftime.

The Colonels were on fire again to start the third quarter, outscoring Liberty 22-11 while forcing another seven Eagle turnovers. Jackson had nine of his points, including a 3-pointer.

“We knew that they have a very athletic team, and that they like to attack the rim,” Wygant said. “We showed a lot of tenacity on defense over the first three quarters, and were able to keep them from getting any momentum. We just didn’t maintain that in the fourth quarter.”

Houser was the only other Colonel to score in double figures with 10, but several other Wood players made important contributions. Vincent Lew and Sullivan both scored seven points for the Colonels, and Brooks and Samuel Costin had six points each.

Jones led Liberty with 13. Drake Bowman had 12. Hakeem Johnson and David Milton each scored 10 points.

The Colonels next host Woodgrove at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.